Destiny
by everwander
Summary: Alex Gedum is a young orphan setting out on his first pokemon journey. As he travels the Kanto region in his quests for badges he'll meet friends and enemies, new and old. Is he Destined to be one of the great pokemon masters?


_(a/n) — pokemon belongs to nintendo and GameFreaks  
_

_I wrote this a while back and I didn't feel like editing it much. *shrugs* Your usual tale of a boy going on a journey, with a semi-superpowered pokemon that doesn't like to be in a ball. I tried to make it more detailed though. based heavily off the american version's 1st season. it's old, and after re-reading i'm certain it's rather... narmy. enjoy!  
_

_note: this has been re-edited to combine all the chapters into one slot and fix paragraph breaks/spacings after ffnet switched its layout some odd years back.  
_

* * *

_**Destiny**_

by spin21x

* * *

"Hey Alex, I'd like you to see this for a second."

Alex Gedum looked up from the pokédex he was tinkering with and gave an exaggerated sigh. "Coming, Professor," he moaned.

Alex brushed his long hair to the side of his head. His blue overshirt swirled around his legs as he walked over to the next room. Upon reaching it, the tall Asian swung his head inside the doorway to catch a glimpse of the room.

Professor Oak was hunched over a pokémon with his microscope before he spun around in his chair and slid over to his computer. He punched a few buttons rapidly, obviously excited about something. "Alex, come over here, I have something here to tell you!"

Alex made his way across the room when Oak started to scratch his head. "I could have sworn I remembered what it was..." he muttered.

Alex face-faulted, then straightened up quickly. "What did you wish to tell me Professor?"

Oak's face scrunched up as he tried to remember. Finally, "Ah, yes! What would you like on your pizza tonight? No wait, that isn't it," he muttered as Alex faulted over again. "Ah, now I have it! You're almost ten now Alex."

Alex brushed himself off. "I've been ten for almost half a year now, Professor. We've just been waiting for the spring until we have more trainers to set off."

Oak brushed the argument aside. "Well the point is that nobody else your age wants to be a pokémon trainer. Come spring, I was going to send you off anyway, alone or accompanied. By the way, how's Sandshrew?"

Now it was Oak's turn to face-fault as Alex deadpanned, "Professor, you've been keeping Shrew all these years until I was able to get my license."

Just as Oak was about to respond to that, a loud wail and sounds of running were heard throughout the lab. Alex and Oak spun around just in time to see Gary run through the lab carrying something with a hatless Ash after him. "Gimme back my expo hat Gary!" Ash yelled.

"No way, not until you give me back my-" Gary's voice was lost as the two disappeared out the room and around a corner.

Alex turned around to see Oak trying to exit the room as discreetly as he could. Oak noticed him and quickly straightened. "Well, I, uh...why don't I go get the boys and get them some pizza. You can go check on your Sandshrew!" With that Oak gave up all pretense of stealth and charged out of the room.

A huge drop appeared on Alex's head as he too, turned around and left the room.

**o O o O o**

Two hours and several furious outbursts later, Alex finally arrived in Professor Oak's pokémon storage center. He'd spent the last few hours looking for Shrew in the open fields and the workout areas since he knew Shrew hated being confined to his pokéball.

He sat himself down at the relatively small computer desk, which was isolated beside the huge, towering shelves and the pokéballs within them. After entering his passcode he ran a search program for Shrew and finally found his pokéball ten minutes later.

He pressed the RETRIEVE button and watched intently as a mechanical arm appeared out of nowhere and extended itself to a far shelf where Oak kept most of the valuable pokémon, out of the way and mostly forgotten. The arm appeared to search the shelves and selected a pokéball. As the machine carried the ball towards the desk where Alex was propped at, his mind began to drift back...

* * *

**o O o O o FlashBack o O o O o**

_Alex, Ash, and Gary where running through the plains of Route 1 playing a mixture of hide-and-go seek and tag. Ash was it, as usual, and Gary was really rubbing it in._

"_Hey! That cap really creates wind resistance y'know. 'Course with the way you exercise I guess it *is* possible that you could be way outta shape!"_

_Ash stooped down with his hands on his legs to catch his breath for a while. As Gary taunted him, Ash lunged at him and managed to trip himself over a rock. As he fell flat on his face Gary's face contorted with laughter and started to jog off. Soon, a majority of the Pallet's female adolescent population suddenly appeared and started chanting._

"_Gary, Gary he's our man! Gary does what no one can!"_

_Gary clapped his hands over his ears and ran off, "AHHH, Cooties!"_

_The entourage ran off following him and Alex walked over to Ash and gave him a hand-up from the ground._

_Ash brushed himself off and then gave Alex a challenging glare. "Last one to that tree is a Muk! Onetwothree go!"_

_Alex found himself standing there while Ash raced across the meadow. When he was about halfway there he started walking towards the tree Ash had indicated, waiting. He didn't have to wait long. About three seconds into his sprint Ash ran into the same rock that had tripped him before and collapsed into the grass._

_Alex jogged over to the tree, tapped it, and turned around to face Ash. He made a face by narrowing his eyes and extending his mouth, "Muk."_

_Ash grimaced and started to trot over when a rustling from a very large tree across the way caught their attention. They turned to look and saw something fall down from the tree and some very angry birds swooping down on it._

"_SPEEEEAR-ROW!"_

_Alex's face betrayed the fear and apprehension he obviously was feeling. "C'mon! We have to save that pokémon!" he yelled as he broke into a sprint as fast as his eight-year old legs could carry him. "Let's go!"_

_Looking back he saw Ash was breaking into a run as well...but in the opposite direction. Shrugging, Alex ran towards the spearows and picked up a large, fallen branch. As he neared the tree, he saw that the spearows were attacking a small sandshrew that had been foraging for food._

"_Leave that Sandshrew alone!" he shouted, and then he swung the branch into the midst of the spearows. Clearly angry, the spearow flock swooped around to meet him in battle and Alex realized that he was in some very serious trouble. He had no pokémon to help him fight so he did the only thing he could do._

_He shot out towards the tree where the bleeding and fainted shrew lay and in one smooth motion, he picked it up and shot back around the tree towards Pallet. The spearows screamed vengeance on him and he could feel their hard Pecks jabbing him through the small shirt he wore._

_Suddenly, a bright Thunder Shock coursed through the air and nailed a spearow head on. The bird pokémon quickly fell but at least the flock's attention had been defocused from him. He glanced forward and saw Professor Oak with a dirty Ash and several pokémon trainers. Between him and them stood or floated a multitude of electric and ice-type pokémon. One of the trainers shouted while the_

_Professor was doing the same._

"_Alright Magnemite! Give them the thunder treatment!"_

"_Cloyster! Ice Beam Attack!"_

"_Alex! Get over here and under cover quick!"_

_One of the trainer's pokémon, a Cloyster, opened up its shell to reveal the spike rising above it. The ice-type pokémon fired a freezing cold beam at a Spearow and it dropped to the ground as an ice block as a Magnemite scooted forward._

_The trainer's Magnemite got a running start and floated over the heads of all assembled trainers and pokémon. Alex had heard of the Thunder attack and knew that if he didn't make it, he'd quickly get shocked._

_Suddenly he stumbled and Alex prepared to be paralyzed for life. Or worse. And then he felt himself being picked up...or thrown up onto strong arms and he was at level with...then past the assembled trainers in a flash. Looking down he saw that the sandshrew he'd been helping was now carrying him past the danger point, and beyond._

_They both stopped and turned around as the sky grew dark and bolt of lightning slammed into the Magnemite, which then magnified the electrical charge and sent them at the spearow, the trees, and about everything below it within five meters. Finally, exhausted, the two collapsed in a small field just short of the main town and Alex found himself looking into the eyes of what seemed to be the most wonderful creature he'd ever seen._

"_Thank...you," he managed to mumble._

_The sandshrew nodded weakly and shuffled over to Alex, then it curled up into a ball surrounded by Alex's body in its own, reflexively curled up position. "Dew..."_

**o O o O o End FlashBack o O o O o**

* * *

Alex woke up from his light daydream to find Shrew licking him on the cheek. He bolted up in his chair.

"Shrew! How ya doing buddy! Why were you in a pokéball?"

Shrew stiffened at the mention of the dreaded prison but then it relaxed. "Shrew. Sand sand dew. Sand shrew shrew sand dew shrew."

Alex smiled and patted Shrew on the head. "That's alright buddy. Professor Oak probably meant well. And tomorrow I'm gonna get my license! I can finally keep you around permanently!"

"Shrew!" Shrew crowed in delight.

"But," Alex sagged a bit. "I'm kinda tired now Shrew. How bout we get some sleep?"

Shrew nodded and they set off towards Alex's room in the lab. Gary was just returning to his room with some pizza next door and nodded to Alex.

"Kickin' the sack?"

Alex nodded sleepily, brushed some of the hair out of his face, and he and Shrew went inside to their room.

"Well, smell ya later!"

* * *

**o O o O o FlashBack o O o O o**

"_Hm, this sandshrew is in remarkably good health for such an ordeal," Professor Oak murmured. He turned to the young boy standing anxiously next to him. "You too Alex. You should probably get some sleep."_

_Alex could not take his eyes off of the sandshrew. "Please, Professor," he croaked. "I just have to make sure that the little Shrew's okay."_

_Oak had never seen Alex so distraught. Ever since he'd been orphaned after his remaining parent, his father, had a fatal encounter with a Magmar within in a lava pit, Alex had become a gloomy, not so verbally expressive as one might have wished. In fact, the only time he'd demonstrated any affection after the accident was when he was around that sandshrew._

_Gary and Ash, two of Alex's closest friends, for all that he was two years older, hadn't seen their friend this bad either._

_Ash laid his hand on Alex's shoulder. "It's okay Alex. Pokémon can't die."_

_Despite the fact that he knew better, Alex succumbed to the six-year olds logic_

_gave Ash a small, grim smile. "You're right. Shrew can...he *will* get better."_

_Gary, for once in his life, did not have a snide remark to break the silence._

**o O o O o**

_The next day while Oak was doing his morning studies, he peeked into the infirmary and found Alex asleep on the table where the sandshrew lay. A Joy was working in the computer console next over and noticed the Professor._

"_Sandshrew will do just fine," she said with a smile. "But it will need some time to recover from its ordeal. Alex over there," she indicated. "He's also doing pretty well for his emotional flash. But I must admit I'm not used to dealing with humans," she said with a slight blush._

"_That's fine, Nurse Joy. I think you can go back to Viridian City now," Oak said._

_Joy nodded and walked out of the room, leaving Oak with Al and the sandshrew._

**o O o O o**

_Oak snapped awake when he thought he'd heard a faint, "shrew..." He looked up and saw the sandshrew with its head cocked over Alex. He was about to get his pokédex and enter some lab notes when shrew began licking Alex softly. "Well I'll be..." he whispered._

_Alex woke up to find the sandshrew happily and tenderly licking his cheek. "Sandshrew!" he exclaimed, overjoyed._

_Gary ran into the room at the exclamation but was quickly hushed down by Professor Oak. "What's going on?" he asked._

_Oak indicated Alex, who was laughing and hugging the pokémon he'd named 'Shrew' while Shrew was hugging him back. "This may prove another theory of mine. But I'd have to run some more tests and I doubt Alex would let me harm his Shrew."_

_Gary looked bewildered, and a little jealous. "But he's only eight! He can't have a pokémon until he gets his license at ten!"_

_Oak calmed Gary down. "Oh he can't train Shrew," he said. "But he can certainly be his friend."_

**o O o O o End FlashBack o O o O o**

* * *

Late at night, Professor Oak was going through the bedrooms of the lab, checking on what few guests there were and finally he reached Alex's room. He peeked in and found Alex pretty much passed out on his bed. The cover was barely covering him and Oak could clearly see Shrew's curled up form under Alex's arm. He smiled, quietly closed the door, and went to check on Gary.

**o O o O o**

The next morning, Alex was woken up by a combination of three annoying dodrio voices, slamming doors, and Ash dumping cold water onto his head.

Alex shouted out as the cold liquid brushed his face and Shrew let out a shriek at the water. Seconds later Ash bore a very strange arrangement of scratches and Shrew was doing its best to dry itself off.

"Wake up Alex!" Ash shouted as Alex rubbed sleep-sand out of his eyes. "Today's the big day!"

Grumbling slightly, Alex showered and brushed his teeth before entering the lab with Ash hot on his heels. Oak and Gary were already in the lab, as well as Mrs. Ketchum and a...few of her friends.

"Never knew this place could hold thirty people," Gary muttered while everybody else concurred.

Oak cleared his throat. "Attention everybody! Attention! Quiet down please." As the excited murmurs faded away, he continued. "Since Alex here is the only person who'd like to get his trainer's license this year-"

"Uh-uh! I want one too!" Gary shouted, followed quickly by Ash's similar outburst.

"Only *elegible* person wishing to get their license this year," Oak corrected, "we are able to hold the ceremonies with an audience. Alex, I think we know what pokémon you've already chosen."

Alex smiled proudly while Shrew preened himself. "Professor Oak, my friends: Sandshrew!"

Over the cheers during which Shrew clapped his paws across his ears Oak commanded silence. "Yes, yes, Al has chosen Shrew. However, since Shrew is not an eligible starting pokémon, as the League states..."

Alex and Shrew both face-faulted and straightened as he continued.

"Alex you have to chose either a Bulbasaur, a Charmander, or a Squirtle."

Alex looked crestfallen and Shrew appeared on the verge of tears when Oak spoke yet again. "However there is no reason you couldn't include Shrew as a...travelling companion." Over the cheers of those assembled again he shouted, "Now which one do you want Alex?"

Alex hesitated, before there had been no doubt in his mind that he would leave as the proud trainer of Shrew, but to have two starting pokémon was an honor almost unreal.

He turned to look down at Shrew. "So which one will it be buddy? It's your call."

Shrew was pleased at friendship Alex had exhibited so he felt this was only one way of repaying his great debt to the boy. Of course he wouldn't dream of leaving even if he didn't have a debt. So he made up his mind quickly. "Shrew. Sand shrew shrew sand. Sand."

Alex nodded, "Charmander! I choose you!"

Amidst the cheers, Ash murmured under his breath, "Hey, that doesn't sound that bad...maybe I could use it..."

Alex had packed days earlier in preparation for this event and he merely had to grab it from the floor next to him. He then handed out little gifts he'd collected over the years for his friends and family and started passing them out for their dedication and belief in him. A new towel for one of his "Aunties." A new wooden spoon for Mrs. Ketchum. A ten-gallon hat for the Professor. Finally...

He bent down so his head was level with Ash. "Hey bud, I might not see ya for a long time. So I want you to have this to remember me by," he said as he handed him a brand-new pokémon expo hat. "Your old one got so dirty, I decided to get you a new one. If anybody asks, just tell them you 'sent in a million postcards to the official pokémon expo.' "

Ash was all amazement. "Wow! How'd you get it Alex?"

"Oh, I just about sent in a million postcards," he replied with a wink. Then he turned to Gary. "Gary, be nice to Ash...but here." Then he pulled out a medallion on a chain. The medallion itself we a yin-yang except its colors were yellow and green. From outside the room, more importantly the window, a loud cheer could be heard.

"Yayyyyyy Gary!" his squad cheered.

Gary blushed and placed the medallion around his neck. "I wont forget ya Al," he said. "In fact, when we meet again, I'm gonna whip that sandshrew into *real* shape!"

Alex smiled while Shrew simply huffed at the notion. He quickly calmed down when Oak came over.

"Here's your pokédex and your seven pokéballs. The pokédex has all one-hundred and forty-nine pokémon programmed into it, including the extinct ones."

"Wait," Gary said, "aren't there one-hundred and *fifty* pokémon?"

Oak huffed, "The whole idea is ridiculous. The 150th pokémon has never really been discovered and nobody can really prove its existence. Besides, since I have absolutely no information on this 'pokémon' I chose not to include it."

Alex hefted his backpack and walked out the door. "Good bye, Professor! I'll find that pokémon for you! Bye everybody! Bye Ash, Gary! Bye!"

The cheers continued until Alex's waving hand could no longer be seen and he could obviously no longer hear them. As the crowd dispersed Gary fingered the medallion Alex had given him. "Go get 'em," he whispered. "Go get 'em all Gedum."

Then, he turned to Ash and gave him a menacing leer. "So little washout, what cruddy pokémon are *you* gonna lose to me with in two years?"

**o O o O o**

Just outside of Pallet, Shrew and Alex sat down on a log to eat their breakfast. Alex had brought along some of Mrs. Ketchum's tasty mini-chocolate balls and had brought enough for Shrew to last until Viridian City. As he scarfed down his sandwiches, he looked around. Aside from a few trees, a big one towards the meadow, and a few patches of grass there was nothing in site.

He hefted his pokédex and started scanning the surroundings. Eventually, it's infrared eye picked up something.

—_Pidgey. A small gentle-bird pokémon. Though weaker than its cousin Spearow, its evolved form, Pidgeot, is superior to all other flying types except for the three legendary birds. The gently Pidgey is a perfect target for beginning trainers testing out their pokémon's skills.—_

He put away his pokédex and brushed some of the hair hanging down from his face. He patted Shrew on the head, "Sorry Shrew, but Charmander here needs a little bit of fighting technique!"

Shrew concurred and watched intently as Alex pulled out the pokéball and enlarged it. He whipped his arm back and hurled the ball at the unaware bird. "Pokéball, go!"

The ball crashed into the ground in front of the Pidgey and it hopped back from the foreign object. The pokéball split open and a light spilled out, revealing the pokémon Charmander.

"Char! Mander char!"

Alex had the retrieved pokéball and called out his requests of the fire pokémon.

"Charmander, Scratch attack!"

"Char!" Charmander's claws reached back and scratched the pidgey across the bridge of its beak. It retaliated by flying up into the air and fanning its wings at Charmander. Soon, a tornado emerged from the wind and slammed Charmander onto its back.

"Charmander, Ember attack!"

The fire pokémon whipped its tail up and around, smacking the flame on its tail into one of pidgey's wings. Pidgey fell to the ground, trying to glide away but the winds pushed it towards Alex's feet.

"Alex pointed a compressed pokéball and tapped the struggle indicator, enlarging it out. "Pidgey, you're mine!" he said as he threw it at the twitching form.

The ball smacked into Pidgey, stunning it enough that it was pulled into the ball via laser beam. Once inside, the struggle indicator lit up and the ball began jumping around as the captive Pidgey tried escaping. Shrew shielded his eyes in remembrance of his time spent in a pokéball, and then he turned to his friend.

"Shrew! Shrew sand shrew."

Alex looked down at Shrew. "Huh? Oh, okay. I understand how you feel."

The indicator light on the pokéball finally went out but instead of celebrating, Alex quickly picked up the pokéball and tossed it into the air, "Pidgey! I choose you!"

The ball opened once more and soon Pidgey was flying through the air once more...or rather it was falling. Charmander, with its speed, quickly rushed over to where the falling pokémon was headed and deftly caught it with its paws.

Alex and Shrew were close behind him. "Pidgey!"

"Dew!"

Pidgey was obviously in pain. It tried lifting its wings but one of them only moved several centimeters before it hissed in pain.

Alex quickly realized what had happened. "Oh, I'm sorry Pidgey! Sorry but I...I needed some more pokémon you see. I had no idea you would get burnt." He shuffled around his bag and pulled out his portable-pokékit and found a burn-heal potion. He quickly applied it to Pidgey's damaged wing and it gave an audible sigh of relief.

"Pidgey. Gey Pidge." it said.

"You're welcome," Alex replied.

**o O o O o**

Later that night, Alex was curled up in his sleeping bag while Charmander stayed near the fire, keeping it lit when necessary but mainly roasting some spare marshmallows Alex was carrying around. Shrew was sitting on a log, talking to pidgey.

"Shrew, shrew sand dew shrew [Hey, what's going on?]?"

"Pidge? Pidgey pidgey...[Hm, just contemplating my new existence...]"

"Shrew? Shrew shrew, shrew sand dew sand [What? Alex is a good guy]."

"Pidge...pidgey gey pidge ey [Yeah...but he did burn me down pretty ruthlessly]."

"Shrew, shrew shew rew shrew. Shrew [I've known him for more than two years. Trust him. Besides that was his Charmander]."

With that Shrew hopped off the log and padded over to Alex's sleeping bag. Taking his usual position between his arms he curled up and was quickly fast asleep.

Pidgey stared at the trainer and pokémon for a long time. After a while, he hopped off the trunk and settled down next to Charmander and the fire, then he went to sleep.

**o O o O o**

After two days of hiking, about half of that time spent staring at a beautiful waterfall near the path, watching the water pokémon, Alex finally reached Viridian City.

He eagerly let himself into the Pokécenter and deposited three pokéballs with Nurse Joy but insisted on learning some of the tricks of the trade with his sandshrew.

Especially as Shrew refused to be separated from Alex.

"How'd you get this pokémon?" Nurse Joy asked as she tried tending the very hyper fish pokémon.

"Who? Magikarp?" Alex shrugged. "We were just watching the water fall when Shrew noticed it trying to beach itself or something. All it did was flop around so I decided to keep it."

Joy nodded. "Well since you saved this pokémon from being attacked from the Spearow, I guess you should keep it."

She turned away to tend his other pokémon and didn't notice Alex's twitching feet as he face-faulted in front of the counter.

**o O o O o**

During their stay at Viridian, Alex stocked up on some more antidotes and burn-heals, since it was obvious a few poison pokémon and Charmander would be battling frequently. In fact...

Alex looked around at his recovered friends, and the newly caught Magikarp who refused to come *out* of his pokéball. Pretty much all of them were especially excellent types for the bugs of Viridian. He uncrossed his arms and started walking out of Viridian City and onto Viridian Forest.

**o O o O o**

"Shrew! Return!"

Shrew quickly complied as the unfortunate bug trainer ran over to check on his Metapod. After seeing no permanent harm was done, he congratulated Alex on his victory.

After all the boredom of the weak bug trainers and the easy victories, even Shrew was feeling on the bends. But Al had a feeling that it wouldn't last. "Don't worry," he told a very bored Shrew. "I'm sure something exciting is going to happen to us!"

"Metapod."

Alex face-faulted and spun around angrily at the author. "You call this exciting?" (Author: Just wait Alex...just wait...)

As Alex prepared to face the lowly little Metapod, he called out his Pidgey. "Go get it!"

"Pidgey? Pidge [This tiny thing? You've gotta be kidding me]." Pidgey was obviously disappointed by its opponent's stature. But this Metapod was no ordinary Metapod. Actually it was but just a high-level one.

"Metapod. Metapod. Meta-" A bright flash of light.

"What the," Alex exclaimed, "It's evolving! Pidgey, we have to capture it! Sand-Attack that Butterfree!"

"Pidgeo!" Pidgey cried as it kicked up dust at the still evolving pokémon.

"Freee-e-e-e-e-e-e! Free?" The Butterfly pokémon looked around in confusion at the sand-surrounding world before it. It started beating its wing super-hard and managed to blow the sand away in time to see Pidgey's beak. Butterfree somersaulted end over end before it regained its equilibrium.

"Pidgey! Another Wing Attack!"

Pidgey complied but not before Butterfree released a cloud of Sleep-Powder upon the hapless bird. Pidgey continued its glide into the trunk of a nearby tree.

"Pidgey...!" Alex ground out. "Return Pidgey! Charmander go! Ember Attack!"

Charmander ran out as Pidgey was zapped back into its pokéball. He swung his tail around like he had before but the Butterfree flew up and around each time to avoid it.

"Free!" Butterfree halted in its tracks and curious waves began eminating from its body.

Alex pulled out Dexter, his pokédex, and scanned the Butterfree.

—_Confusion Attack. This attack is one of the first attacks a Butterfree can learn. It is very devastating as it can cause damage to the pokémon's ability to distinguish friend and foe and will often attack its own trainer—_

"Attack its own trainer?" Alex asked as he glanced up. "Uh-oh! Charmander, return!"

Charmander flew back into the pokéball just before his ember attack singed Alex himself.

"Shrew, I'm counting on you...go!"

Shrew bravely stepped out against the powerful Butterfree and waited for his friend's next move.

"Sandshrew! Dig!"

Sandshrew started running for the Butterfree and it released another cloud of Sleeping-Powder. But Shrew wasn't there anymore. Butterfree floated over to the hole in the ground where Shrew had disappeared off to, looking very confused. "Free? E-e-e?"

"Shrew! Jump!"

From behind the Buttefree came a terrifying mixture of a squeak and a growl. It turned its head only to watch helplessly as Shrew rammed it out of the sky and onto the ground, where it lay stunned for a while.

Alex reached into his belt pouch and pulled out a pokéball, which he threw at the Butterfree. He watched as the struggle indicator light went on and off in small patterns. Finally, the light went off and Alex raised his arm in triumph. "We did it! We caught Butterfree!"

Shrew looked at his long time friend. Being out in the wild between cities had really changed him. Shrew considered it for the best: Alex's emotions were beginning to resurface and it looked like he was having fun. All the other pokémon noticed it too and they no longer grumbled about it when he gave them commands in battle. Alex was a skillful trainer and what he knew was invaluable for their adventures.

While he was thinking this, he turned around as something had caught his eye. He quickly tugged on Alex's pant leg and pointed towards the distant flashes of lightning.

"Shrew?"

Alex peered into the distance and then looked at the sky. He hefted his pokéballs and backpacks and set of to find the source of the strange thunder with Shrew riding on his shoulder.

**o O o O o**

"Chuuuuuuuuuuu. Chuuuuuuuuuuu. Chuuuuuuuuuuuu."

Alex and Shrew stopped before a crying Pikachu. The cute little critter was sitting on a log crying its heart out, and taking its pain out on the pokémon surrounding it with well placed Thunder Shocks. Alex was a little nervous but Shrew seemed perfectly at ease. He hopped onto the log and waddled over to the Pikachu. "Shrew?"

The Pikachu stopped shocking the sky for a moment, then it glared at Shrew and sent a thunder shock into him.

What really surprised Alex was that Shrew seemed to be affected by it. Shrew's eyes lit up with the unanticipated electrical attack and with stars in his eyes, he actually fell off the log!

He abandoned his hiding spot and ran towards the fallen pokémon, "Shrew! Are you okay?" He wheeled at the Pikachu. "You little runt! How could you hurt this innocent guy? He was just trying to help you! Can't you understand that?"

Pikachu apparently wasn't listening. While Alex continued lecturing him and tending to Shrew, Pikachu's eyes were on the tender emotions Alex had given away about his pokémon. He'd never seen such compassion in a trainer before. He wanted to go with this trainer but something told him he shouldn't. Something like...he wasn't destined to be with him.

Pikachu shrugged it off and hopped off the log. This trainer was obviously caring towards his pokémon. Destiny be d***ed but Pikachu was not going to sit their bawling its heart and pass up any "wrong" trainer when he obviously cared for his pokémon. Whoever Pikachu was *destined* to be with would probably show up sooner or later.

Alex was busy giving Shrew a revive potion, one of the three emergency vials at the bottom of the portable kit Joy had given him. While he was doing so, he thought about the Pikachu. The tiny thing had badly hurt his Shrew but the types didn't match up. Shrew was a ground pokémon so it shouldn't have been able to be affected by the shock. Obviously the Pikachu they were dealing with was very powerful. He'd ask Oak about someday.

"Pika?"

He spun around and saw the Pikachu standing there, looking forlorn and sad.

"Now what do you want, try to defeat my Sandshrew again?"

Pikachu shook his head, "Pikaa...chu."

Shrew regained consciousness and caught a bit of what Pikachu was saying. He translated for Alex.

"Hm, looking for a trainer? Trying to test me? Better come up with a better excuse next time."

Pikachu looked at the ground, not knowing what to say. The trainer had rejected him, he might as well go back onto the fallen tree and—

"...but that excuse will do for now," Alex continued, producing a pokéball. "Welcome to the club, Pikachu."

Pikachu shook its head firmly, "Ka chu."

"Huh?" Alex looked at the Pikachu, then at Shrew, at Pikachu again, "Oh I get it. That's fine with me!"

"Pika!" Overjoyed, Pikachu jumped onto Alex's head and sat there as the group made its way to Pewter city. As they walked along, Shrew and Pikachu were discussing Alex again while Alex was cataloging the different pokémon he now had. He had six now. To be sure one was worthless but it would grow into a powerful pokémon.

Shrew, Pikachu, Charmander, Pidgey, Butterfree, and Magikarp were all his. He already had six pokémon but had yet to compete in a single gym match.

But Pewter City was coming up the road and the friends were ready to face whatever was thrown their way.

**o O o O o**

Alex entered Pewter in high spirits and his visit to the pokécenter to heal up Charmander, Pidgey, and his new Butterfree did nothing to diminish it.

As he turned in his pokémon and grabbed a medkit Joy had given him, he started tending to Shrew's few injuries. The forest was not without its perils and several branches scratched both Shrew and Pikachu's hides. He noticed Pikachu still tended to be off to the side and watch Alex and Shrew's interactions. Every so often Shrew would look over and encourage Pikachu to trust Alex but the mouse-pokémon continued to keep its distance.

Later Alex and Shrew tried training Magikarp to learn the tackle attack. Pikachu was staring out a window when Pidgey flittered over to him.

"Pidgey? Pidgey? [Pikachu? What's wrong?]"

"Pika. Pikachuu. [Just contemplated my new existence...]"

**o O o O o**

Alex walked up to the Pewter City Gym full of confidence. He'd studied the gym trainer, Flint, and his round of rock-type pokémon so he knew that Shrew would be able to defeat him with his ground attacks. As he reached the double doors of the gym he hefted them open and stepped inside.

"I am Alex Gedum! I challenge the leader of this Gym for a Boulder Badge!"

A spotlight shone on a lone figure and Alex did a double-take. This boy was much to young to be Flint. In fact he looked his own age. "Where is Flint? The Gym Leader?" he asked.

The spiky-haired teenager didn't move from his cross-legged position and he didn't reply either. But as Alex started taking in the large room, a rumbling noise from either side startled him. He stepped back as two floor segments with artificial rocks embedded into it slid across the room and slammed into each other with a resounding crash.

Shrew was calm and slowly stepped out onto the mat. Alex had left Pikachu back at the city proper since Pikachu was still not yet used to him. He turned around to face the new gym leader but found that he was gone from his previous position.

Remembering what Professor Oak had told him about gym leaders' habits, he glanced upwards and found that the gym leader here had also performed the astounding leap that most leaders favored. The leader landed softly but dropped into a crouch. He slowly straightened up and smoothed his green vest before he finally spoke.

"Flint has left the gym. I, Brock of Pewter City, accept your challenge as Gym Leader!"

Alex smiled and nodded to Shrew.

"This will be a two on two battle. Time limit is 10 minutes max." Brock picked up a pokéball and threw it onto the specialized gym mat. "Geodude, GO!"

Alex cocked a foot forward and through his arm in a sweeping gesture, "Then I choose, Sandshrew!"

Brock nodded, "A ground pokémon has the advantage over my rock-types. But you'll never get through Geodude. Prepare to go home crying, Geodude, Rock Throw!"

Alex grinned with confidence. "Shrew, use Dig!"

"Dew!" the little pokémon cried as it buried itself into the ground.

Geodude's boulders clattered across the ground but missed the hole Shrew had dug by miles.

"Geodude, Defense Curl!"

Geodude wrapped its long arms around itself and a new rock layer appeared on its body, increasing its armor greatly. But it wasn't enough for Shrew's emergence. Geodude was sent straight into the ceiling as Shrew dug in from beneath him. Geodude came back down to the floor with many bruises and a spiral in its eyes.

Brock sneered, "I figured you might best my first pokémon. But this next one has an ability your puny Sandshrew can't match. Pokéball, GO!"

Shrew jumped back as the pokéball dumped its inhabitant a few feet from it, revealing a large snake made up entirely of boulders.

"What's that?" Alex asked of nobody in particular, and he pulled out Dexter.

—_Onix. This Rock-snake pokémon has a long body composed of a material stronger than a diamond. This makes Onix very strong against normal attacks and its massive weight can be devastating against lightweight pokémon—_

Shrew was busy wondering how such a huge pokémon could stand staying in such a small, confining space.

"Onix, Body Slam!"

Onix let out a guttural roar, which frightened Shrew a bit, but he was still able to dive out of the way, leaving Onix's body to slam into a boulder behind him.

"Shrew, Dive!"

Again Shrew dived into the ground before Onix could mount an attack, but this time Brock was ready.

"Onix bind!"

Onix started to curl itself up just as Shrew popped out of the ground. The giant rock pokémon neatly snatched Shrew from the air and started squeezing the health out of him.

"Shrew no!" Alex thought quickly or he'd lose the match. None of his other pokémon could stand Onix's powerful attacks. He resolved to remedy that situation but for now he had more important matters. "Shrew, curl up!"

Shrew managed to retreat into a little curled up ball and Onix's grip slipped off the round pokémon. As Shrew jumped out of the way again, Alex finally thought of a way to trick Onix.

"Shrew, Dig again!"

"Not that move again," Brock called. "You need to teach your pokémon a greater diversity of moves if you want them to win their battles."

Alex grinned with the unknown knowledge. "Just wait. Shrew, Jump!"

From within the ground, Shrew brought his tail underneath him and used it to add extra power to his leap from the ground. Onix, like before, was waiting with his long body prepared to quickly curl up and snatch the emerging pokémon but Shrew's speed caught him off guard. The little shrew flew up into the air and did a summersault before falling back to the ground.

"Shrew, Fissure Strike!"

During his headlong fall, Shrew extended his claws and they hardened beyond even Onix's diamond-like hide. He slowly began to spin and corkscrew down to the ground, and quickly picked up speed. Shrew quickly slammed into the ground within Onix's curled up body surrounding his entry point and quickly burrowed down. For long moments, nothing happened and Brock began to smirk. Suddenly, a deep rumbling was heard and a spiderweb of cracks appeared coursing out from Shrew's entry point. Onix started to move out of the way when the entire section of the stadium floor gave way and Onix fell through. Just before everything settled down, a yellow ball streaked out of the hole and landed on Alex'' side of the field. It spun around a few times then rolled out into a dirty but obviously happy Shrew.

Brock was dumbstruck at the attack he'd just witnessed. He finally regained his composure and gave a small salute to Alex. "Onix, return."

"Shrew c'mere."

Shrew turned around and hopped onto Alex's shoulder while Alex dug into his pocket and gave Shrew a meatball. While Shrew scarfed it down Brock approached him.

"It would appear that I underestimated your Sandshrew. Here is you Boulder Badge, a sign that you have defeated me in honorable battle, and your monetary winnings." He handed him a small card with a magnetic strip on the back. "This charge card is an official Gym Counter. When you've won Gym Battles or any other battles officially sanctioned by the Pokémon League an amount of money will be deposited into your computer account. All you have to do is use that card at any pokécenter to withdraw your money and you can use it as a credit card."

Alex smiled and patted Brock on the shoulder. "Tough break, Brock. Hope you meet Flint again. Oh, and, sorry about the floor." He turned and walked back to the pokécenter to heal up his Shrew and to find Pikachu.

**o O o O o**

Soon enough, Alex and his troops were on their way to Cerulean City and their second badge. Pikachu had apparently brought Magikarp with him while Alex and the others had gone to the Gym. Alex was chagrinned, he'd never noticed Magikarp's disappearance. Eventually, they saw a gigantic mountain in the distance, which the map Alex carried tentatively identified as Mount. Moon. As they trudged through the coarse, mountain grass, Alex was challenged by trainers who'd lost to Brock. He used Pidgey and Butterfree alternately, Charmander sparingly, and Pikachu and Shrew almost never.

Magikarp was an embarrassment. All it would do it flop around on land and tackle anything and everything in the water.

Eventually, they came across a clearing with a lone tree stump in the center. Alex looked around and saw nothing but grass and shrubbery. He glanced down at his pokémon, "What do you say we camp out here tonight?"

The remark was met with great enthusiasm amongst the pokémon and Alex was pleased to see Pikachu showing more and more attitude and joining in the cheer. Later that night, Alex's sleeping bag was thrown across the ground and most of the pokémon were resting in their pokéballs atop the stump. As Shrew took his traditional spot under Alex's arm and Pikachu went off to find a nice tree to sleep in, he began to relax the weariness of the days before. Things were so peaceful. The whispering sounds of the forest, the starry night sky, the pokéballs falling onto his face...

Wham!

Alex grunted and rubbed his nose where the four pokéballs had impacted. "What the—?"

Shrew yawned sleepily and was uncurling when a noise startled them both.

"Jigglypuff!"

Alex shot into a sitting position where he saw a Jigglypuff kicking rocks, twigs, and leaves off of its chosen stump. Alex quickly brushed all the junk out of his sleeping bag and confronted the little airbag. "What do you think your doing? We're trying to sleep here!"

Jigglypuff's cheeks swelled up with an angry, "Puff!" and started smacking him in the cheeks. But before Alex could sic Shrew on it, a spotlight appeared out of nowhere on the Puff.

"Huh?" Alex tossed out Dexter and flipped it open while Shrew instinctively clapped his paws around his ears.

—_When a Jigglypuff's eyes light up, it can sing a melodious melody, which is the envy of almost every other pokémon. However, it has been documented that the song of Jigglypuff has curious side effects—_

"Side effects, huh?" Alex muttered. Suddenly his ears picked up the most charming and relaxing music he'd ever heard.

"Ji...gaaly-e puff...jiga-lee-e puff..."

**o O o O o**

When Alex came to, he was looking into the face of a very worried Nurse Joy. He sat up and began to take in his surroundings.

"Wha? Where am I?"

Joy gave him a sad little smile. "Some hikers found you and your pokémon passed out in the forest. They couldn't wake you up so they feared the worst and brought you to the Mt. Moon Pokécenter."

"My pokémon!" he exclaimed hurriedly.

Joy smiled again and pointed to six pokéballs resting on a tray. Alex couldn't comprehend every carrying six pokéballs but he did have...

He bolted out of the bed and rushed over to the pokéballs. "Shrew! Pikachu!"

Joy noticed him agitatedly searching the pokéballs. She pointed towards the only two pokémon they had found outside of their pokéballs and Alex quickly swiped them from the tray.

"Sandshrew! Pikachu! GO!"

Shrew and Pikachu's pokéballs burst open with amazing speed and soon the two pokémon were glaring at Joy. She recoiled and Alex rushed over to the two pokémon.

"It's okay guys, it's okay. We had a bad experience and well, most people don't realize that a few pokémon hate being confined in those things." He stared at Joy.

She quickly recovered. "I'm sorry but most pokémon I handle don't mind the pokéballs. I guess I'll have to query my sisters about that. By the way, do you remember what happened to you before you were brought here?"

Alex thought for a long moment, suddenly his memory clicked. "Jigglypuff!" he exclaimed.

Joy looked sad and her gaze drifted towards the other recovery rooms in the pokécenter.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked.

Joy sighed, "If it's true what you said, you're the fifth person to be attacked by a Jigglypuff and its Sing attack."

"Sing?" Alex asked. Suddenly he remembered his pokédex's entry and fished it out of his pocket.

—_Jigglypuff's Sing Attack has certain side effects on the opposing pokémon and its trainer. A Jigglypuff, if powerful enough, can also have the ability to place pokémon asleep even while it is only humming its melodious line—_

Alex snapped his fingers, "That explains it! Jigglypuff put us to sleep!"

A loud gurgling was heard. Alex looked over at Shrew and saw he was rubbing his tummy anxiously. A huge drop appeared on Alex's head while Nurse Joy cocked her head at the pokémon.

"I think it's hungry."

**o O o O o**

Soon Alex and his pokémon were feasting at the Mt. Moon Pokétrainer Café. The food here had specially tailored tastes for various pokémon and several dishes available for the trainer as well. Alex was having a hamburger and fries while the rest of his friends were munching down on meatrolls and a few scattered fish foods for Magikarp.

As Alex swirled a generous amount of ketchup over his burger and fries he noticed Pikachu wasn't eating with much vigor.

Alex tapped the end of the ketchup bottle with his palm while he glanced at the little yellow mouse. "Is their *pomp* something wrong Pikachu *pomp*?"

Pikachu spoke softly and Shrew translated for Alex.

Alex considered his remarks. "*pomp* Well I guess we'll have to find something *pomp* that you will enjoy...*POMP* Oh I'm sorry Pikachu!"

Pikachu rubbed at his ear where a flying bit of ketchup had jumped from the bottle in Alex's hands. He slowly sniffed at the red semi-liquid and tasted a bit with his tongue. Abruptly he jerked up. "Pikaa!" he shouted triumphantly and he grabbed the ketchup bottle from Alex.

"Hey! Give that back Pikachu!" Alex said as he reached for the bottle.

Pikachu jerked the bottle out of his reach and shook his head. "Pika," he said as he licked the ketchup from the inside.

Alex grabbed the bottle a second time and succeeded in catching one of Pikachu's ears.

"Gimme that bottle PikaCHUUUUUUUUUUU—!"

Pikachu hopped out of the both carrying his trophy triumphantly, leaving four other shocked pokémon, one shocked human, and a very dizzy Shrew.

**o O o O o**

"Mount Moon. Closed for...repairs?" Alex stared at the sign next to the cavernous entrance. "How could a mountain have repairs?" he asked Shrew.

Shrew shrugged and simply walked inside. Leaving Alex and Pikachu, who was now clutching the ketchup bottle for dear life.

Alex shrugged. "Oh well, let's face the music," he said as he walked after Shrew.

Pikachu cocked his head at the unusual phrase before he too, headed inside.

Alex, Shrew, and Pikachu walked around the cavernous caves of Mt. Moon when they heard some very odd voices.

"I don't care what the boss said! All this cave dust is wrecking my hair into something wicked and I can't stand all those bats!"

"But the Boss told us to guard the entrance in case anybody came snooping around! We don't want to get on his bad side."

"Raticate, rata tata rata cate!"

Alex looked around in confusion. "Who's there?" he called out.

"What the, somebody else is in here! We gotta stop them!"

"Wait Butch, we have to do our motto!"

"Do we have to?"

"_PREPARE FOR TROUBLE!"_

"And make it double..." a dejected voice said.

Alex looked around but he still couldn't see anything. Suddenly, two spotlights flicked on and Alex saw the backs of two people, a long-blond-headed girl and a blue-haired boy with a short haircut similar to Alex's.

Th girl turned around. "To infect the world with devastation!"

The boy turned around. "To blight all peoples in every nation!"

Alex was confused. "What nation?"

"To denounce the goodness of truth and love!"

"Huh?"

"To extend our wrath to the stars above!"

"Cassidy!" the blond shouted.

"Butch," Blue-hair said.

"We're Team Rocket! Circling Earth all day and night!"

"Surrender to us now or you will surely loose the fight!"

Suddenly a Raticate dropped from the cave ceiling as a red "R" crashed into the ground behind them. "Rrrrraticate!"

"Who are you people?" Alex asked. When he got no reply, he turned to leave, "I'm outta here."

"Not so fast," the girl named Cassidy said. "The Boss said nobody's to come in here and Team Rocket is a group you don't want to mess with." She produced her own pokéball and threw it. "Grimer, GO!"

Butch threw a ball of his own, "Go Koffing!"

Alex smirked. "Poison pokémon. This ought to stop 'em. Butterfree, go get 'em!"

The butterfly pokémon launched itself out of its pokéball and evaded the weak Tackles the two Rocket pokémon launched at it. It countered with a confusion attack as per orders and all five Rockets started slamming into the walls.

Butch was the first to get up and as he helped Cassidy to her feet they both called out new orders. "Koffing, Smoke Screen!"

"Grimer go up!"

Butterfree used its Whirlwind Attack to blow a majority of the smog away, just in time to watch as Koffing's grinning face smacked headlong into it. Butterfree tried regaining its flight beat but Koffing managed to tackle it again and again.

As Butterfree fell to the ground Alex called it back and sent out Pidgey. The tiny bird reared a wing towards the back as Koffing sailed towards it and smacked it forward, launching Koffing for a grand slam into Cassidy and Butch. Koffing was down for the count.

Alex started to smirk triumphantly when he noticed Grimer was missing. There was a spot of sludge on the ground and Cassidy had a secretive smile. Alex looked around when he noticed there was a hole near his feet. "Shrew!"

Suddenly, the ground beneath them started shaking and a huge mound of dirt rose in between the Rockets and Alex. The mound suddenly burst open and Shrew flew out of the hole he'd created. Grimer dropped down from the ceiling and looked a trifle dizzy while Shrew landed neatly on all four feet.

Alex swept his hand from side to side, "Shrew! Finish it off with a Slash!"

Shrew took off running towards Grimer when the large sludge reared up and glared at Shrew. The action disabled Shrew momentarily and Cassidy took full advantage of the distraction.

"Grimer, Toxic Attack!"

Grimer's hand darted forward and latched claws deep into Shrew's body. Toxic waste started flowing from Grimer to Shrew and it was obvious the little pokémon was in pain. The disabled and now poisoned pokémon bit back a cry of pain but weakly batted at the sludge's hand hanging onto its back.

Alex was on the verge of tears from his best friend's injuries. "SHREW NO! Pidgey! WING ATTACK!"

As Pidgey flew in at the aggressive and unyielding snake, Pikachu peeked out from his hiding spot and saw everything that was taking place. As he saw Grimer wrapped around the unfortunate Shrew and the valiant Pidgey trying to dislodge it, his heart went out to Alex as he saw the trainer struggling with his fear for Shrew and his obvious hatred for Team Rocket. The pair and Raticate were laughing hysterically at their victory but it was short lived as Grimer suddenly flew back into their faces.

Alex quickly ran over to Shrew as Pidgey returned from literally ripping Grimer off of the unfortunate pokémon. "Pidgey," he said. The bird was surprised by the coldness in his voice and was instantly obedient to his next summons. "Get 'em, and get 'em down hard." He pulled out his other pokéballs, even Magikarp's, and chucked them all at Team Rocket. "All pokémon, ATTACK!"

Pidgey, Charmander, a slightly recovered Butterfree, and Magikarp all appeared directly next to Team Rocket's feet. Pidgey started to whap the human trainers with a Wing Attack and Charmander was literally roasting Raticate with his flame-thrower.

Butterfree cast poison and sleep powders on Grimer and Koffing after freezing them up with a well placed Stun Spore. Magikarp was flopping around, eventually gaining enough friction to launch itself into Butch's feet and Tackle his legs with its ultra-hard scales.

While his pokémon were all fighting and driving off the Rocket Trio, Alex cradled Shrew's head in his lap. "It's...it's gonna be okay, Shrew," he choked out. "We'll get some help for you. The pokécenter's not far from here and I have something that'll pick you up in a jiffy." He began searching his backpack for his potions and found several Super Potions. He administered an antidote to counteract Grimer's poison flowing through Shrew's body and sprayed the potion on him. Shrew didn't appear to get any better. "NO!" he cried out. "Shrew c'mon. You've gotta get ok!"

So busy was he tending to Shrew that he didn't notice a faint explosion and a faint wail of "Team Rocket's blasting off!" His pokémon returned, including Pikachu and they all stood around Shrew. Alex barely glanced up when a bright light shone the cavern and scared the Zubats away. As he picked up Shrew's limp body, the light faded and he shot a glance at all his pokémon. "Let's get out of here."

The pokémon agreed instantly.

"Char..."

"Pikaa."

"Karp karp karp karp..."

"Pidgeotto..."

**o O o O o**

Alex found himself staring through the window to the Pokémon Center's Emergency Room. All the pokémon, without comment had crept back into their pokéballs or gone out for short walks and/or flights once Alex had apparently dismissed their existence. He pounded the window in frustration.

Joy didn't look up from her ministrations to the fallen sandshrew. After the twelfth repetition of Alex's frustrated pounding, she'd grown used to the thuds and she crisply ordered one of her Chansey to fetch a clean towlette. Shrew was in very bad shape and from the looks of the poisoned infection, the wound would fester for even weeks until Shrew was healthy enough to battle.

Pikachu peeked inside the door to the pokécenter and watched as Alex nervously paced before the glowing red sign above the entrance to the ER. He trotted up and patted Alex's feet but Alex apparently didn't notice or didn't care. Pikachu felt even more sorry for the trainer. His confidence had all but shattered and the only thing he was aware of was his injured Shrew.

"Pidgeo [How does it go]?"

Pikachu spun around and looked sadly at the newly evolved Pidgeotto. "Chuu [No change]."

"Char, Charmander [Who, for Alex or for Shrew]?"

"Free-e-e-e. Befree-e-e [Both. Alex and Shrew both took hard hits today]."

"Karp karp karp karp [I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, I'm tired, I'm...]"

All the pokémon glared at the flopping fish. "[Nobody asked you!]" they all shouted.

Finally they were all silent. Though most of them were still recovering from the Rocket battle, they all knew that it was taking the entire pokécenter's staff to keep Shrew alive and to recover. Even Magikarp stopped flopping about in the gloomy atmosphere.

**o O o O o**

The next day, Alex was heading for Cerulean City once more. But this time there was a change. Around Alex's neck hung a large sling into which Shrew was carried in. Joy had wanted to keep him at the Center for more observation but Alex couldn't stand the confines of the building and he knew Shrew wouldn't either, nor would he consent to recovering in his pokéball.

Joy had given him a free restocking of his emergency pokémon medical kit and another case for potions and antidotes in case Shrew suffered a relapse. After healing the rest of his pokémon they were on the road to Cerulean City, carefully skirting around Mt. Moon of course.

They camped out in a field just outside the city, as the pokémon and Alex himself were unwilling to face an entire city's attention on himself. They stayed there for weeks, quietly tending to Shrew and Alex used the time to develop his pokémon's skills. There was a brief flurry of interest when Charmander grew strong enough to evolve but he and Alex agreed not to and the glowing was enough to attract enough normal insects for Pidgeotto to feast on. Shrew eventually got well enough to travel and the group finally set off towards the water town.

**o O o O o**

The Three Sensational Sisters of Cerulean City were practicing their diving techniques in the huge, double-Olympic sized pool when suddenly the doors to the gym were kicked in. They all climbed out of the water to reveal their shapely bodies in their swimsuits but Alex was too determined and frustrated to notice.

"I am Alex from the town of Pallet and I challenge the Gym Leader to an Official Pokémon League Gym match!"

The three sisters looked at each other for a moment and one of them stepped forward. "Very well, then. Like, I'm Daisy and these are my sisters. We'll like, totally kick your pokémon back to their pokéballs." The other two sisters returned with Daisy's pokéballs and they all shouted in chorus, "We are like, the Three Sensational Cerulean Sisters!" and they all started giggling.

Alex's face was stretched into a grimace and a huge teardrop appeared on the back of his head.

**o O o O o**

Minutes later, they were standing on the edge of pool where multiple floating platforms silently slid across.

Alex deftly snatched a pokéball from his belt and threw it out with an outward, sideways motion. "Pokéball, GO!"

"KARP!"

The three sisters burst out laughing and on of them pointed a trembling finger at the flopping pokémon. "Like, that is so totally weak!"

"Totally," chimed in the second.

Daisy swiped a pokéball from the floor next to her and tossed hers out in a ballerina display. "Daisy calls...Goldeen!"

The graceful water pokémon slide through the water and beneath the platforms, then surfaced again. "Goldeen goldeen. Goldeen."

"Three on three battle royal! Like, no time limit and any pokémon that gets thrown out of the pool is, like, totally disqualified," Daisy called.

"That's fine with me!" Alex threw his arm out, "Magikarp, Tackle attack!"

Daisy giggled and laughed out at the floppy fish. "Goldeen (hee-hee), Horn Attack!"

Quickly and effortlessly, Goldeen swam over to Magikarp and rushed at it horn first. Surprisingly, Magikarp side-slipped at the last moment and rushed at Goldeen's retreating tail with astonishing speed.

Goldeen found itself being launched out of the water and it landed on a platform.

"Goldeeeeeen!" It managed to roll and flop its way off where it found Magikarp heading straight for it again. This time Goldeen deftly evaded the headlong rush and prepared its next attack.

"Tell Goldeen to use its Peck attack!"

Alex glanced up at the new voice. It sounded young, and it sounded like it was coming from the bleachers, but nobody was up there. He glanced back at the unfolding battle and noticed Daisy was doing her best to ignore the voice.

"Goldeen, Fury Attack!"

Goldeen began launching itself at Magikarp repeatedly and Magikarp took two hits before Goldeen overshot it and was pummeled in its tail again. Magikarp again rushed at Goldeen and the graceful fish was confused at what to do.

"Supersonic!" the voice commanded.

Alex glanced around again. The voice obviously knew a Goldeen's attacks yet Daisy seemed to ignore the warnings. "Goldeen, like, Horn Drill!"

Goldeen's horn began to spin around until it was blurry and suddenly it launched itself into Magikarp's headlong Tackle maneuver.

Magikarp swerved to the side, presenting its profile to Goldeen and allowed itself to be hit. However, because of the oh-so tough nature of Magikarp's scales, Goldeen's horn merely rubbed itself down to a nubbin.

Daisy face flopped but recovered in time to see an abashed Goldeen get launched headfirst towards her. She quickly ducked and heard Goldeen smash into the wall behind her, then fall down.

"Goldeen's out of the match!" Alex triumphantly called out as Daisy recalled her Goldeen. "Magikarp, wait...wait..."

Daisy's arm came around and she tossed another pokéball granny-style in the same ballerina twirl she'd used earlier. "Cloyster, go get it!"

The hard bivalve pokémon appeared over the water, and its landing sent waves that knocked Magikarp head over tails into the pool's wall. "Cloysssster!"

This is what Alex had been waiting for. "Magikarp, NOW!"

Cloyster began to move in with its large, protruding horn when Magikarp suddenly started glowing and elongating. Cloyster quickly retreated back to its side of the pull as the newly evolved pokémon gave a menacing roar.

Alex grinned. "Gyarados, Hydro Pump!"

Gyarados gave another bone-chilling roar and dove beneath the pool's surface.

Cloyster paddled around nervously when the water around it was suddenly hurled up from beneath it and it flew into the air. It landed with a great splash at the other side of the pool as Gyarados surfaced where Cloyster had originally lain.

The mysterious voice called out again, "Tell Cloyster to use it's Aurora Beam! Dragon pokémon are weak against Ice attacks!"

It was obvious that neither Daisy nor her sisters, could ignore the voice any longer. As one they all turned towards the bleachers. "SHUT UP!"

Daisy turned back to the battle, "Cloyster, Spike Cannon!"

The pokémon slowly opened up the halves of its shell to reveal a nervous looking face. Gyarados bore down on the Water/Ice pokémon, its huge mouth revealing sharp teeth that were edging closer to the pokémon.

"CLOYSTER!" the bivalve pokémon screamed as it quickly clamped its shell back together. But Gyarados wasn't aiming for its vulnerable inner core. The flying water-snake/dragon latched onto one of Cloyster's protruding spikes and whirled it around before tossing it against the far walls.

Daisy clapped her hands to her mouth as her eyes traced the path of the flying Cloyster. "Stop!" she shouted. "I concede the match!"

Alex grinned as he recalled Gyarados. "Yes! I won a Cascadabadge!" He bent down to retrieve the badge as it was resting on a Seel's tongue that had been paddling around the circumference of the pool. He turned around and gave a glance towards the bleachers, then belted the pokéball, picked up Shrew and placed him in his sling, and walked out of the gym.

**o O o O o**

Daisy had taken her pokémon to the gym's healing tray that was sent weekly to the pokécenter. Today's battle had practically filled the tray up and the girls were in a gloomy mood.

Daisy glanced up towards the shadowed corner of the bleachers. "Why do you always interfere with our battles?" she called out.

"That's because you airheads can't even battle a Magikarp! The only reason you three became gym leaders because you bribed the judges!" The figure accused.

The second sister muttered, "Well they did look like they needed a date..."

The figure exited the bleachers with a Gym-jump and landed in front of the three sisters. She was red-haired and her ponytail was in a most unusual place. Her yellow shirt and blue shorts were connected with red overall straps and her face was currently as red as her hair with fury. "I can't stand how you're able to stay on as Gym Leaders! You suck!"

Daisy placed her hands on her hips. "Well Misty. If you, like, don't like it here you *can* leave y'know." She swung her arm out and pointed at the door. The other two sisters followed suit.

Misty fumed. "Alright I *will* leave! And what's more I'm never coming back until I have enough pokémon to whip your sorry butts!" she yelled as she stormed out.

**o O o O o**

With two badges and a renewed spirit, Alex set off to find Vermilion City. But the map he'd gotten from Professor Oak only really described the general location of each major city and his recommendation for the order of getting the badges. Alex decided to camp out in the next clearing he saw but everything in sight was nothing but rocks and trees. He hiked onwards towards the ocean.

**o O o O o**

As Alex disappeared over a hill, a figure peeked out from behind a tree and stared after him. One of Alex's pokémon seemed to sense the figure's presence and spun around, but the figure had disappeared.

**o O o O o**

"What's wrong Pikachu?" Alex asked.

Pikachu pointed back down the path, "Pika pi!"

"Huh?" Alex looked back down the hill they'd climbed and saw nothing but trees.

"You must be seeing things Pikachu. C'mon, I can see something up ahead!"

After a while, Alex, Shrew, and Pikachu emerged from the forest and saw a huge plain with a few scattered farmlands. There was no shortage of camping spots here! He bagged down near the forest so he'd have some easily accessible firewood and called out his pokémon. Immediately he started issuing some tasks.

Pidgeotto and Butterfree both used their Razor Wind attacks to slice off multiple branches at once. Once they'd piled it on, Alex helped Pikachu to tie the branches up together and Gyarados towed them back to the campsite. Shrew was waiting there to unpack the branches and arrange them in a neat little pile and soon after, Charmander set them burning with a Flame-thrower attack. Another pile of branches was pulled down for extra fuel and the pokémon relaxed around the camp-fire.

Pikachu had somehow managed to sneak several ketchup bottles from the Cerulean Gym's stockpile and was licking the ketchup out of them in a somewhat cute manner. Gyarados was taking a swim in the nearby lake, freezing though it might be, and the rest of the pokémon were all roasting marshmallows.

Alex took another bite out of the fried noodles he'd made and admired his pokémon's skills. They'd all grown into a great team and were becoming an excellent team together. With his pokémon by his side, working together, Alex soberly admitted that he'd never have to face another disaster like the one at Mt. Moon.

**o O o O o**

Later that night, while everybody was asleep, the figure peeked out from the forest and glanced at the seen before it. Alex was holding Shrew in his usual position while Gyarados was back in his pokéball, too long and too dry to curl up comfortably.

Pikachu had somehow produced a tiny sleeping bag with electric bolts on it and the figure smiled at the cuteness of it all.

**o O o O o**

Alex woke up the next day to find an upside-down Sandshrew staring at his face. He quickly looked down at his arms and found Shrew still curled up and he did a double take of the first Sandshrew. He got up and patted Shrew awake with his free hand as he stared down at the little shrew.

"Sandshrew! Whadja find?" an irate voice called out.

The Sandshrew turned around and called out back the way it had came. Shrew opened his eyes, blinked a couple of times at the Sandshrew, and jumped down from Alex's arms.

Both Sandshrew stared at each other while the rest of Alex's pokémon woke up and a second person walked up the hill.

His choice of clothing apparently included hiking boots, black shorts, and a shirt that positively clashed with his green, spiky hair. He had the imperious air of someone who thought very highly of himself and the way he glared at Alex's Shrew implied that this newcomer was another Sandshrew trainer. He nodded curtly to Alex, "Hello."

Alex nodded in turn and found all his pokémon were watching him, except for Gyarados of course. "Hello." There was an intense silence between the two while the two Sandshrew below them shrugged their shoulders. "Nice Sandshrew," Alex commented.

The trainer favored him with a cold smile. "Best Sandshrew in the world," he commented. "Much better than that lil' pipsqueak of yours."

While Shrew bristled at the comment, Alex interposed himself between Shrew and the trainer. "You obviously have a problem with my pokémon when you haven't even been introduced to them."

The trainer cocked his head at him. "Fine. You want to defend your pokémon so much? Let's battle. My place, one on one. Your Sandshrew against mine, no time limit."

Alex gave him a cold smile as well, "Fine then. I'm looking forward to wipe that smug off your face."

The trainer stood back and crossed his arms. "Hah! I'm AJ, the wild pokémon tamer. But whippin' up punks like you is my hobby." His brows furrowed and he narrowed his eyes, "Let's go."

**o O o O o**

Alex and AJ crossed a large wooden fence that stretched around a very large tent and an outdoor pokémon court. The arch they'd passed underneath had an electric sign proclaiming: "AJ's Gym, Losses: 0, Undefeated for: 46 Battles. Note: This Gym is not officially sanctioned by the Pokémon League."

AJ took his position at one end of the field while Alex took the opposite. "Alright you upstart, this is a one on one match with my Sandshrew against yours. Be prepared for me in the future after you lose to me, because when I get one-hundred wins in a row, me and Sandshrew are headed for the Pokémon League Badges!"

Alex simply nodded then took his favorite pose: he cocked his left foot out and sweeped his left arm out from the right to left and pointed towards the field, "Shrew, GO!"

AJ reached behind his back and uncoiled a whip hanging there. He gave it a crack against the floor, "Go Sandshrew!"

Both Shrew ran out onto the field and stood glaring at each other. "Shrew, Sand-Attack!" Alex ordered.

"Sandshrew, Dive!"

Shrew started kicking up dirt from around the stadium sides while AJ's Sandshrew dived into the ground.

Alex had known that he'd be facing Diglette and Dugtrio in the near future and had prepared an attack to counteract their more powerful Dig Attacks. He used it now, "Shrew, Swift Attack!"

Shrew curled himself up into a ball and began glowing. As he glowed brighter and brighter he jumped into the air and started spinning on all three axis's. The ground beneath Shrew began to crumble and crack when Shrew suddenly let out a flurry of shooting stars. The stars flew into the ground and into the air, every which way as Shrew continued his spin. The stars pierced the ground beneath Shrew and a muffled yelp was heard.

AJ agitatedly cracked his whip against the ground again and Sandshrew flew out from the ground in a ball and smacked Shrew back to the earth. Shrew retaliated by raking his claws against Sandshrew's back and the second ground pokémon cried out in pain.

AJ clenched his fist and cocked his whip again. "I'll teach you! Sandshrew, Fury Swipes attack!"

Alex barely reacted in time, "Shrew, Dig!"

AJ's Sandshrew's claws hardened into gleaming points and it slashed at Shrew with all the strength it could muster. "SHREWWWWWWWW!"

Shrew ducked back from Sandshrew's swipes, the claws missed him by barely centimeters. When they came around a second time, Shrew backflipped out of the way and dove into the ground.

AJ grinned triumphantly, your Dig attack wont work, I've trained my Sandshrew how to avoid those! Sandshrew!" he cracked his whip, "Jump!"

AJ's Sandshrew leapt into the air about as much as a normal Sandshrew or Dugtrio would emerge, ready to pounce on Shrew's vulnerable head when he popped out, but Alex had other plans in mind.

"Shrew!" he called into the ground, "JUMP!"

The little pokémon rocketed out of the ground faster than Sandshrew could anticipate him and he neatly escaped Sandshrew's reflexive kick.

"Now Shrew!" Alex yelled, "Use the Mega Kick!"

Shrew flipped in the air and came upon AJ's Sandshrew with his foot in front of him, driving the other pokémon to the ground. He rebounded and landed on all fours, then rushed in to finish AJ's Sandshrew.

AJ was looking grim, but the moment passed and he quickly recovered.

"My Sandshrew's never lost to anyone and I'm not about to let him loose now!" He gave another crack of his whip. "Sandshrew, Fissure Strike!"

Alex was almost surprised at the command. He'd no idea that AJ's Sandshrew was as powerful as his, if not more so. "Shrew, you too! Fissure strike!"

Both Sandshrew leapt into the air with a challenging wail, "Saaaaaaaand-SHREW!"

They both began the Fissure Strike maneuver, but only one of them made it. On the way back to the ground, Sandshrew reached out his free paw and poked Shrew in the eye. Shrew was in the midst of clearing its vision when it hit the earth. Shrew burrowed under with the force of his fall and so did Sandshrew, so the change was not readily apparent to the two trainers.

Suddenly, Shrew popped out of his hole and shook his head, about the same time AJ's Sandshrew's hole began to rumble. The ground split into cracks in a spiderweb pattern and Shrew jumped to the side of one of them. Unfortunately, the second Sandshrew's attack was so powerful the whole field cracked open and a giant sink hole appeared in the ground.

Sandshrew quickly jumped out of the falling debris and landed on AJ's half of the remaining field. Shrew was nowhere in sight. Alex rushed over to his side of the hole and anxiously peered into it. "Shrew? SHREW!"

Inside, barely visible, underneath the fallen debris, lay Shrew's arm. Alex quickly jumped down into the hole and started throwing off the pieces of broken concrete. "D****t, d****t, not again! Don't do this to me Shrew, c'mon..." He heaved another rock off.

Sandshrew looked at AJ and they both jumped into the pit and started helping. Soon, they uncovered a dizzy-eyed and fainted Shrew, but otherwise he was fine. Alex breathed a sigh of relief as AJ helped him out of the hole while Sandshrew did the same for Shrew.

AJ turned around and faced the sign. He pulled out a small remote with a keyhole and took out the key for it too. Unlocking the controls, he flicked a switch and the sign now proclaimed AJ's 47th win. He locked the controls again and turned around...and froze at an astonishing sight.

Alex was bent over Shrew, quietly muttering encouragement while applying a revive potion. What's more, Alex had released four other pokémon and they had all crowded around, encouraging Shrew as well. It was obvious Alex shared a close relation with his pokémon and that they all shared a similar bond between them. AJ had this bond with Sandshrew but he'd never really considered his other pokémon.

Alex glanced up from Shrew briefly and noticed AJ's stare. He misinterpreted it; "Pikachu didn't want to come here, he's still back at the campsite."

AJ shook his head. "You. You're pokémon. They seem so...*happy*. I've never seen any trainer with a relationship with their pokémon like that."

Alex tended back to Shrew again. "You seem to share it with your Sandshrew..."

AJ shrugged. "Sandshrew's the only one out of the one-hundred I have I share this with. You seem to share it with all your pokémon."

Alex face-faulted at the mention of AJ's numerous pokémon. "Actually, I only have these six." He looked down at the recovering Shrew, then back at AJ. "Can I see yours?

AJ's face brightened, "Sure! C'mon I'll show ya!"

Alex got out his sling and placed Shrew inside, then the two trainers and their pokémon went inside the huge tent.

**o O o O o**

Pikachu was marching around the perimeter of Alex's campsite, holding what appeared to be a rifle over its shoulder. Waitaminute, that's a ketchup bottle! Anyway, Pikachu was marching along with the ketchup bottle, occasionally licking the ketchup up while keeping half an eye out for any intruders.

As he turned to make another perimeter walk, a shadow rose ominously behind him...

**o O o O o**

"Your Sandshrew has remarkable skills," AJ remarked. "I've never seen any type of ground pokémon be able to jump that high!"

"I admire your Sandshrew as well. To a point!" he quickly added as he saw the glare from Shrew. He pantomimed wiping his hand across his forehead. "That was the best match I've ever had, including the one's I've had with the Gym Leaders."

AJ leaned back into the bench they were sitting on. "Yep. My Sandshrew is the toughest there is on the planet. Ever since I've considered it ready for battle *nobody* has ever defeated him. You, my friend, have given me the biggest and best battle I've had in a long time."

Alex cocked his head curiously at AJ at the mention of being his friend. They both leaned back as Sandshrew and AJ's other pokémon were training in stations all over the tent floor and sky. "If it had been a two on two battle, my Gyarados would surely have taken out your Sandshrew."

"Not likely." AJ pointed to Sandshrew, who was diving into a huge pool in the center. Seconds after it plunged in it popped out and uncurled itself.

"It isn't affected by water?"

AJ beamed with pride. "You're lookin' at the only Sandshrew in the world that's not affected by aquatic-based attacks!"

Shrew had recovered enough to walk around and he and Sandshrew began chatting.

Alex narrowed his eyes. "Hm, maybe you could train my Sandshrew to be water *resistant*, if not invulnerable."

"And you could teach *my* Sandshrew to jump like that?"

Alex laughed, "Sure. Just let me get my things."

**o O o O o**

AJ stayed behind to continue his pokémon's workout. In his estimation they were 'way outta shape' though they were the strongest group of pokémon Alex had ever seen.

As Alex exited the complex he noticed a girl standing there. She was wearing a yellow shirt with red overall straps to her shorts. Her red hair was scrunched up into a very strange ponytail configuration and she was carrying a red knapsack. Her most distinguishing feature, however, was the Pikachu she carried in her arms.

"Pika pi!" he cried out.

Alex stopped dead in his tracks. "Who are you? What are you doing to Pikachu? Where's my stuff?"

The girl reluctantly let Pikachu go and he immediately rushed over to Alex. Then she tossed out his blue backpack, which held most of his camping stuff. "I'm Misty from Cerulean City. My sisters are so annoying I could just scream! I had to get away from them."

Alex rubbed the back of his head. "Well, *Misty*, I understand how you feel about the gym leaders—"

"My sisters are the gym leaders," she shot back.

"—but that doesn't explain why you had my stuff or Pikachu."

"Well who are you anyway? I like your Gyarados. My sisters are totally imbeciles when it comes to their pokémon. I'm surprised they're the gym leaders."

"Uh, yeah, glad you like my Gyarados." He was feeling a bit agitated around this loud-mouthed girl. He extended his hand for introductions, "I'm Alex Gedum."

She canted her head to the side, "Get who?"

He face-faulted but recovered quickly. "Ged-dum. That's my name. And these are Pidgeotto, Butterfree, Gyarados, and Charmander," he said, pointing to each pokéball in turn. "You already know Pikachu and this," he patted Shrew's head, "is Sandshrew. By the way, you were the one giving suggestions to your sisters weren't you?"

She huffed, "I know *way* more about pokémon than they do and they still wont listen to me!"

Alex nodded. "You must be a skilled trainer. What pokémon do you have?"

She froze, then grudgingly tossed out a pokéball.

The pokéball flashed and a flopping pokémon appeared. "Goldeen. Goldeen goldeen, goldeen."

Alex stared at the Goldeen, then back at Misty who was rubbing her arms nervously. She quickly called back Goldeen and looked at Alex.

He tossed her a fishing rod. "There's a lake over those few hills a ways back," he pointed. "You can use the rod to catch more pokémon, since you strike me as the water type favorite."

She snatched the rod from the air. "That's right!" Abruptly she began dashing in the indicated direction with Alex and his pokémon on her heels.

**o O o O o**

He finally caught up to her at the lake and she had already positioned herself on a rock outcropping. He waited behind her for a while until she finally gave a depressed sigh.

"There's nothing in here!" she complained.

Alex waggled his fingers. "Patience. That's the key to everything. And when the key becomes dull, use a pokémon." He pulled a pokéball from his belt and threw it towards the water, "Gyarados, GO!"

The water/dragon pokémon disappeared under the waves and surfaced a few meters out. "Go flush out some water pokémon Gyarados!" Alex yelled. Gyarados roared, then dove beneath the surface again.

For a while, nothing really happened. Suddenly a huge foam appeared rushing towards the shore. As it got closer, the foam revealed itself to be caused by a mass of pokémon speeding away from the trained Gyarados. Finally there were lots of pokémon near the shore and Alex recalled Gyarados.

"Now, Misty," he said with a sweep of his hand. "Pick one."

**o O o O o**

The first couple of battles were interesting, to say the least. Misty immediately summoned her Goldeen and tried every attack she knew in the book. But time and again the pokémon merely retreated from her presence. At last, only two pokémon were left in the waters near the shore and Misty tried her luck again.

"They're both Staryu!" she exclaimed happily. Alex pulled out Dexter.

—_Staryu, the star-shape pokémon. This pokémon has the ability to recover lost health by regenerating damaged body parts. Its central core has a beautiful gemstone-like substance that is often used by pokémon poachers as jewelry. Because of its five limbs, a Staryu can use up to three arms for a powerful water gun, or one at a time for a continuous stream. As a result, this pokémon, and its evolved form, Starmie, are two of the most versatile pokémon known to exist—_

Misty clapped her hands in excitement and her eyes were all shiny, "Oh jewelry...I HAVE TO HAVE THOSE POKéMON!" Once again, Goldeen was sent out to battle both pokémon.

"Goldeen, Horn attack!" she called out.

The sea queen rushed forward with its horn and scraped both Staryu in one pass. The both turned to face the new adversary when they both glowed and the marks disappeared.

Misty was surprised but she covered it quickly. "I guess I'll have to knock 'em out really fast! Goldeen, Horn Drill!"

Goldeen's horn began spinning and Alex's mind recalled Daisy's ineffective Horn Drill with her Goldeen. He started to point it out when Misty brushed it off.

"My pokémon is much better trained than those twerps."

Goldeen managed to aim its drill into the center of one of the Staryu and the crystal shattered. The Staryu slumped to the bottom of the pool and the second one made to run off.

Misty tossed a pokéball over the defeated Staryu and concentrated on the next one. "Goldeen, Waterfall Attack!"

Goldeen leapt out of the water and bellyflopped, creating a vacuum in the water for a brief second. The second Staryu was pulled into the vacuum then thrown up into the air when the water threw itself up.

By now the first pokéball had sunk down and tapped the first Staryu and there was little resistance. Misty threw a second pokéball and it zapped the now falling Staryu into it and returned to the water. Both of the struggle indicators lit up but one of them faltered immediately. The second one actually popped back open but just as Staryu was escaping, Pikachu jumped forward and Thunder-shocked it back into the pokéball. This time, the struggle indicator was off.

Misty jumped up and down with joy. "Yay! I caught two Staryu! Yay!"

**o O o O o**

They both returned to AJ's tent/gym and Misty healed up her new pokémon while AJ and Alex were training each of their pokémon new tips. After the next sunrise a week later, the two parted company with AJ.

"See ya later AJ," Alex waved. "I'll see you at the Pokémon League someday!"

"Just you wait until I have one-hundred wins in a row!" he yelled back. "The way Sandshrew fights, it'll be sooner than you think!"

Misty had been busy with her Staryu during the times that Alex had spent with AJ so she still wasn't too comfortable around him. She admired the pool in the tent and remarked in Alex's hearing, "If I ever come back to this place, I hope it's not to shabby."

**o O o O o**

"So Alex? Where are we going?" Misty demanded.

Alex was hunched over a map, but with all the fog around he couldn't see past his nose.

"Shrew?" asked a nearby voice. He looked down and could make out the faint, discernable silhouette of his favorite buddy. He picked Shrew up and looked back to check on Misty, who was holding Pikachu.

"I honestly don't know," he replied. He pocketed the map, then nearly tripped as he bumped over something. "What the?"

Misty rushed over. "What's wrong Alex?"

"I hit something."

She felt around in the fog for a while and suddenly a shape materialized out of the fog. "A treadmill?"

Suddenly the floor beneath her began to shift. She had accidentally stepped on the treadmill itself! Alex rushed over and quickly shut it off. The second change of direction threw her completely off balance and she fell in-between the handle and one of his arms.

He blushed and quickly straightened her up, then let her go. He took a step forward, and suddenly he disappeared! "Alex?" she called out.

"Hey, check this out! There's a huge building complex here!" came his reply.

She hesitantly took a step forward and found herself in a beautiful, peaceful clearing. A large building was in front of them, beyond a massive courtyard and several miniature parks. "It's a school," she breathed out.

Alex eyes refocused on the school. Suddenly he snapped his fingers, "I've got it! It's the Pokémon Tech!"

"The what?" she asked.

"Pokémon Technical Institute, to be precise," a new voice said. They turned and saw a young man standing there. He nodded his head slightly and greeted the two newcomers.

"Welcome to Pokémon Tech. I'm the PR Director, Mr. Alfonso. I manage the tours of this school and give trainers a little excitement to show them what real training is all about. The tour is only ¥30 per person. Would you like to take a tour?"

Alex looked over at Misty and she shrugged. He nodded and pulled out his pokécard the Gym Leader Brock had given him. "Charge it, please."

Mr. Alfonso swiped the card through a reading device and scanned it briefly. "Very well, let's get it on."

**o O o O o**

"Here we can actually see some of our prestigious students taking their midterm pokémon exams," Alfonso pointed out. "Our most promising student here is a first-year beginner named Giselle."

Alex was pressed against the window trying to see the student's questionnaires but the glass distorted the papers somewhat. Misty was not really paying any attention, focusing hers on the giant pool across the way.

"And _these _two," Alfonso said with a huff. "I don't even know how they got in here!"

Alex looked in the direction where Alfonso was pointing and saw a funny looking redhead and a blue-haired boy next to her. Both of them were scribbling furiously into their answer booklets but it was obvious that they had no idea of what they were doing.

The class's professor was walking down the isles and monitoring each progress. When he got to the strange duo, he immediately snatched up their papers and looked at their hands. He gave the papers a look-over and started barking at them. "You imbeciles aren't allowed to cheat in here!" he yelled, waving the blue-boy's written-on hand. "Also, this test is a multiple choice, JAMES! You don't write down your answers you just fill in the bubbles! And you, JESSE! You—"

Mr. Alfonso pulled up a curtain and a big sweat drop appeared on his face. "Well, uh, Pokémon Tech is a *very* hard school. Not all the students make the final cut. Let's move on," he hastily said.

**o O o O o**

They quickly moved out of the testing/classroom and they came across a vast room with multiple gizmos inside.

"What are these things?" Alex queried.

Mr. Alfonso beamed with pride. "This is one of Pokémon Tech's finest achievements. These are all Pokémon Battle Simulators. The PBS system gives our students the experience they need in order to compete in the Pokémon League. All their pokémon are given to them when they enter the ranks and they can use the simulators to practice with their friends. If a student should fail," he continued bluntly, "their pokémon are taken away from them. But if they pass, they earn this badge!" He whipped out a red, ruby-like badge with the initials PT sculpted into it. "This badge allows the students to compete within the Pokémon League, without having to travel around gathering up the minimum of eight gym badges."

Misty came up to them, "But what about battle experience? These computer-things don't really let you gain battle experience very well."

Alfonso held up a finger, "Ah, but you see we have a pokémon battleroom. This is where our trainers can bond with their pokémon on a business level." He pointed to Alex, "You my friend, with two badges, could be considered a Beginner student here at the Tech, so impressive our training regime is."

Alex began to feel red a bit and he put a hand on his pokéballs. "You think you can beat me? You may have all your pokémon learning but my pokémon can fight! Let's step to your battleroom."

Alfonso grinned, "This was the little excitement I mentioned for passing trainers. It gives them a taste of what a graduate from Pokémon Technical Institute can do!"

**o O o O o**

In the battleroom, Alfonso had grabbed five pokéballs from a nearby rack while Alex readied his. Misty was sitting by the pool again while Shrew and Pikachu were standing a bit behind him.

Alfonso hefted a pokéball, "Now young man, you can finally see for yourself what this School is all about. This will be a five-on-five battle; Graveller, GO!"

"Grav!" the four-armed rock pokémon yelled.

Alex took his sweeping pose, "Shrew, GO!"

"DEW!" the little pokémon cried challengingly.

"Shrew, Earthquake Attack!"

Shrew burrowed quickly into the ground and set off a massive earthquake that rocked the gym. As he popped back out of the hole he'd created, Graveller's four arms tried to balance his imbalanced body, but his center of gravity was to high and the giant boulder rolled back a couple of feet onto its face.

Alfonso recalled Graveller. "That Sandshrew is pretty good, but it can't take down my Vaporeon, GO!"

"Por! Por!" It shouted.

"What the," Alex said as he pulled out Dexter.

—Vaporeon. The one of three evolved forms for Eevee, the evolution pokémon. Vaporeon is evolved with a water stone and has powerful ice and water attacks—

Alex pocketed Dexter. "A water pokémon huh? Well you're in for a surprise,

Sandshrew, Fury Swipes!"

"Shrew!" he called as he ran towards Vaporeon.

Alfonso's lips curved into a smile, "Not switching? Obviously you do not know pokémon type advantages. Vaporeon, Water Gun!"

Vaporeon let loose a huge cascade of water at Shrew, but the ground pokémon threw itself into a ball and continued on its course. The water gun had no apparent effect on its abilities.

Alfonso was amazed, "The water didn't affect it? HOW?"

Alex smirked, "You're looking at... one... of the only Sandshrew in the world that are resistant to water attacks!"

Shrew pounced onto the frightened Vaporeon and proceeded to slash it up with his sharp claws. The bubble-jet pokémon collapsed with spirals in its eyes and numerous scratch marks. Shrew jumped back and away from the fallen Vaporeon and landed near Alex.

Alfonso was determined not to loose, "Alright, nothing and nobody beats the Pokémon Tech that easily! Venasaur, go get it!"

The huge plant/poison pokémon jumped out and roared, "SAUR!"

Alex waggled his finger, "I *do* know my pokémon type advantages Mr. Alfonso, and I also know that Venasaur is half poison! Shrew, DIG!"

Venasaur let loose a cloud of pollen that flowed towards Shrew but the pokémon dived down into the ground again.

"Venasaur!" Alfonso yelled, ready a Solarbeam when that thing comes out!"

Shrew catapulted itself out of the ground and smacked Venasaur upside the chin.

The giant pokémon grunted and aimed its enormous flower-top at the Sandshrew, who was preening in front of Alfonso. The man paled as he noticed their positioning.

"No Venasaur! Not yet!" the agitated PR director screamed.

It was too late, Shrew jumped to the side as Venasaur's powerful grass-attack launched the Solarbeam straight at Alfonso. He quickly dived to the side and came up rolling, recalling Venasaur as he went. He turned back to Alex, who was sitting there with a smirk, and fumed.

"I admit now that you are a talented trainer, and your pokémon are well trained, but prepare to face my poison variety! Ekans, go!"

Shrew panicked at the site of the fully poison pokémon and ran back to Alex.

Alex knelt down by Shrew, "Sorry buddy, I know how you must feel." He straightened and pulled out a pokéball. "Charmander, I choose you!"

The fire-lizard quickly took his stance and flamed the Ekans before it could even move. "CHA!"

The now-blackened Ekans blinked several times, then rushed in at Charmander.

The fire-pokémon swept his tail in the snake's path and the poisonous snake reared back from the burning embers.

Alex brought up his hand and clenched it into a fist, "Now, Charmander, Fire Spin!"

Charmander ducked his head for a second then brought it up and around to shoot a blazing, curling fire around the Ekans. Ekans vanished as a huge firestorm surrounded him and completely choked him off. When the flames died down, a burnt and very weak Ekans collapsed onto the ground.

Alex ticked off his fingers, "I've used two and you're on your fifth. Still so confident?"

Alfonso chuckled. "We at the Tech understand that there may be a few gifted trainers. But those number few and Pokémon Tech still turns out better trainers." He threw out his last pokéball, "Have fun with this one! Pokéball go!"

"Ditto."

Alex pulled out Dexter yet again.

—_Ditto, the mysterious transform pokémon. This pokémon has the ability to alter its DNA structure into that which its trainer directs it to. However, Ditto usually transforms into whatever dominates its vision unless it has a very good trainer—_

"Hm..." Alex pondered. He suddenly snapped his fingers and recalled

Charmander. "Gyarados, go!"

"Ditto, Transform!" Alfonso called out.

Alex smirked. While he'd been tossing Gyarados with his right arm, with his left, and throwing arm, he'd chucked a rock at Ditto. The little blob transformed into a small boulder!

"What the - DITTO! Transform into the pokémon!" Alfonso yelled.

"Gyarados, Dragon Rage!"

As Ditto reverted back to its gelatinous form it finally got the message and turned towards Gyarados. But Ditto didn't have a clear view of the pokémon it was targeting.

Gyarados had been busy during the time Ditto was undergoing its re-transformation and all that was visible was a huge dirt-funnel, heading straight for the pokémon and its trainer.

The dragon-created tornado raged through the floor, ripping out chunks of concrete as it did. As the funnel reached Ditto, it went through a whole variety of shape shifting, but none were successful at escaping. Ditto was sucked into the funnel and if you glimpsed carefully enough, you could see its small eyes moving around and around inside the funnel. Finally a loud wail in Ditto burst out and the pink blob was sent flying across the room.

"All right, I win!" Alex shouted. He looked over at Misty but the only indication that she'd noticed the battle was when Ditto landed on the back of her head. She was screaming incoherently, trying to get the frightened blob out of her hair.

Alex turned to look at Mr. Alfonso, who had his arms on his head and was shaking it furiously. "How?" he squeaked.

Alex walked over and crouched next to Alfonso's face-faulted form, "Sometimes it's not just the know-how that wins battles, it's the do."

**o O o O o**

The next day Alex and Misty were back on track to Vermilion City. Alfonso had stated that since he'd been the only trainer to ever defeat him in battle, he'd treat them to a free, overnight stay at Pokémon Tech. This pleased Misty, who loathed having to camp out in the deep fog. The fog was still present the next morning and Alex had to rely on Misty's boast that she knew exactly where she was going. (Author: uh oh...)

"Do you think Misty really know where she's taking us?" Alex asked Shrew.

Shrew gave a shrug at about the same time Misty yelled back at him.

"Of course I do!" she called. She sounded a bit far away from Alex's perspective.

"Hey, Misty, wait up! I can't see where you're going in this fog!"

"What?" came her fainter reply. "I can't hear..."

Alex stopped dead in his tracks as her voice trailed off in the fog. "Misty? Misty where'd you go! Hello!" Beside him, Shrew shivered. Alex noted this and turned several degrees to his right. "That's it, I can't see a thing in this fog! Pidgeotto, GO!" he called as he threw the pokéball out.

The ball rebounded off of something and hit him on the bridge of his nose. He grabbed it even as Pidgeotto materialized beside him, "Ow..."

Seeing the problem, the bird pokémon started up its Whirlwind attack, blowing the fog away to clear Alex's vision. When he could see clearly enough, he rubbed his eyes at the spectacle before him.

In front of him was an ornate door, with dozens of pokémon chiseled into separate squares set into the door's pattern. He gave it an experimental tap and was utterly surprised when the swung silently open. He peered inside.

"Hello...o...o...o..."

He momentarily jerked at the sound of the echo but then cautiously crept inside the building. It was a massive room, with high arches and heavy furnishings that seemed like they came out of a museum. Next to one of the walls was a videophone with a Bellsprout receiver. He gave the rest of the room a cursory glance and walked over to the phone. He felt a small tug and saw Shrew slowly shaking his head.

"What is it Shrew? Oh, right, the owner of this place probably wouldn't like the phone bill. Don't worry, I'll call collect!" He headed for the phone again as a sweat droplet appeared on the back of Shrew's head.

**o O o O o**

"Ring ring ring! Ring ring ring! Phone call, phone call! Ring-"

"Hello, who's this?" the gray-haired man on the other end said. Alex waved at the camera, "Hey Professor, it's me!"

Oak peered at his screen, "Huh? So it is! How are you doing Alex?" Shrew climbed up onto Alex's shoulder. "You too Sandshrew?"

Shrew gave a happy little burble and waved at the camera. "We're all fine, Professor. We're just...lost."

"Lost?" he asked. "Wait just a moment." The screen showed him shifting cameras as he slid his chair over to his computer. A beeping noise started emanating from Alex's pocket and he pulled out his flashing pokédex.

"Don't worry Alex," Oak said, "I'm just using the homing beacon installed in your pokédex. One moment please...Ah, you're at Bill's Laboratory!"

Alex looked around, "This is a lab? It looks more like a mansion!"

Oak shrugged, "Bill was always preferring the extravagant life." He raised his voice, the sound now coming from the phone's speaker system. "Hello Bill!"

A diminished voice materialized from the speakers next to Alex and others all around the room. "Hello Professor Oak," the slightly accented voice said. It is good to 'see' you again."

Oak was pleased. "I see you finally got your intercom system up and running!"

"Yes Professor," Bill replied. "But the one at the door is still foggy from all that fog. Otherwise I would have introduced myself to young Alex."

"Alex, yes," Oak said thoughtfully. "I think I'm forgetting something...but what?"

Suddenly a noise like crashing burst from the vid-phone and Alex saw Gary and Ash running by through the back of Oak's lab. Ash noticed the Oak talking into the vidphone and both boys ran over.

"Hey Alex!" Ash said jubilantly.

"Hi Al!" Gary called.

"Happy Birthday!" they chorused.

Oak slapped his forehead. "That was it! You know Alex, that you turned eleven yesterday?"

Alex looked abashed. "I had no idea." He grinned, "I have been working hard and, well, time just flew right by!"

"How many badges do you have?" Ash yelled.

"Two."

"Wow!" Ash called, "Two badges!"

Gary was unimpressed. "Big deal, by the time I'm gone as long as he has, I'll have all eight required to get into the Pokémon League!"

Oak forcefully shoved the two protesting boys out of the door. He returned to the table again and coughed into his fist. "Sorry Alex, they've been getting worse and worse ever since you left."

"It's okay Professor," Alex assured him.

"Well!" he said, brightening. "I can't monopolize you all this time, especially with Bill around. Teach him well Bill!"

"Goodbye, Professor," Bill said. The videophone disconnected. "Well, now that you're here, Young Alex, perhaps you could do me a favor?"

Alex looked towards the great, inner door. "And what would that consist of?" he asked.

The huge double doors opened up and a giant prehistoric pokémon stood there. It was a Kabuto! Alex stepped back several paces but stopped when the Kabuto raised a claw.

"Wait!" a muffled voice said. Alex recognized it from the speaker system. "Bill?"

"Yes, it is me. The favor I need you to do is to get me out of this thing!"

Alex rushed up to the Professor. "What do you want me to do?"

Bill pointed to a recessed button where his Kabuto arms couldn't reach. "Just press that button!" he called.

Alex tapped the button and jumped back as the Kabuto shell cracked open and Bill stepped out of it. He motioned at the Kabuto suit, "Don't ask."

**o O o O o**

Alex stayed at Bill's Lighthouse for almost two weeks, learning all about the various pokémon and Bill's dream to meet the mysterious pokémon he'd once heard.

With Bill's help, Alex learned how to access the pokédex storage/retrieval database and reconfigure pokédex information.

Bill had confided with Alex that a pokémon researcher by the name Westwood the Fifth was one of the pokédex programmers, and it was well known to have made up most of the information in the database. Alex promised to research pokémon when he could and correct the information. Bill wished Alex good luck on the rest of his journey and gave him a brand new bike he'd used as a child.

"I don't need this anymore," said Bill when he'd given it to him. "That was in the days when I myself was a trainer. Besides, it was your birthday and it would be rude of me to forgo a gift."

"You've let me stay at your laboratory..."

Bill all but thrust the bike at him. "Your modesty keeps you in good people's sights, but don't over do it."

Alex gave a firm nod to the pokémon researcher. "Good bye, Bill."

**o O o O o**

Misty was nowhere in sight when Alex left Bill's Lighthouse. Small wonder, since he'd been in there for such a long time. The fog had cleared up and now Alex could see his map very clearly, but he didn't like what he saw.

"We've been going North this whole time?" he exclaimed.

Shrew and Pikachu cowered from the rage in his voice. They waited until he finally gave a long sigh, then approached him again.

He sighed again and wheeled out the bike Bill had given him. "C'mon guys, let's head back to Cerulean."

They pedaled down the path for about three miles when the trio heard a familiar voice. Shrew immediately hid behind Alex as the two voices boomed out.

"Prepare for trouble!"

"And make it double!"

Alex groaned. "I don't have time for this!" he said darkly.

Butch and Cassidy jumped out from the nearby bushes.

"To infect the world with devastation!"

"To blight all peoples within our nation!"

"To denounce the goodness of-AHH!"

"Um, to extend our wrath to the sta-AHH!"

Shrew peeked out from Alex's backpack at the two receding Rockets with bike-tire marks on their faces.

Alex grinned beneath his breath, "Best. Bike. Ever..."

"Shrew..." Shrew remarked.

**o O o O o**

They passed through Cerulean City without incident, and unfortunately for Pikachu, without encountering Misty. Alex cheered him up with a speculation that Misty might have gone to Vermilion City already and was probably waiting for them.

"Take the underground passage to Vermilion City," Alex read on the map. He looked around. "What underground passage?"

Shrew looked around while Pikachu pulled a blanket over himself and fell asleep in the small basket in front of the bike.

"Excuse me," a young voice asked.

Alex spun around and saw a small child with a pokéball attached to his belt.

"Yes? What is it?"

The Youngster's voice took on a challenging tone. "I can tell you where the Underground Path is, but only if you beat me in a Pokémon Battle!"

Alex rolled his eyes. "Surprise, surprise."

**o O o O o**

The Youngster's only pokémon had been a lousy Spearow and Pidgeotto had dusted it off easily. For some reason, this made the Youngster very happy and he eagerly showed them the entrance to the path, which happened to be next to his house.

"Wow!" he exclaimed. "That Pidgey of yours-"

"Pidgeotto."

"-has good skills. You must be a Pokémon Master!"

Alex rubbed his head nervously, "Well, not really..."

"But you have badges!" the Youngster exclaimed.

"I need at least 8 to get into the Pokémon League. Then I have to beat chosen members of the Elite Four and the current Pokémon Champion in a tournament to win."

"Wow," the Youngster said. "I guess pokémon training is harder than I thought.

Hey, there's the house!" he said, pointing. "There's a lady in there who'll direct you to the proper staircase down."

Alex thanked him and entered the house. The lady kindly showed him the staircase to the path that led to Vermilion City and he was biking along the Underground Tunnel down there.

**o O o O o**

About an hour and three pitstops later Alex, Shrew, and Pikachu finally emerged at the Vermilion end of the Path. The three gratefully retired to the Vermilion Pokécenter and bunked down for the rest of the day and night.

The next day somebody shaking Alex rudely woke him up. "Wha?" he mumbled as he attempted to focus his eyes. When they did focus he recoiled. "Misty!"

She whapped him over the head with a fan she'd produced from somewhere. "That's for ditching me for two whole weeks!" she yelled.

Shrew uncoiled from the bed and rubbed its eyes sleepily. "Shrew!" he exclaimed happily when he saw Misty.

"So," she said pertly, "what are you planning to do today?"

Alex rubbed his eyes a little more. "For starters, I was thinking of throwing you off the bed. Other than that I was gonna challenge the Gym Leader here." While she was still digesting that phrase he sat up and shoved her off the side.

She was sputtering incoherently when he walked to the Pokécenter's bathroom. He took a shower and put on some clean clothes, which looked exactly like the ones he'd been wearing before. As he exited the bathroom he felt a hard clout on his head and saw a furious Misty with her fan.

"Oh leave it off," he said as he walked back to his bunk. He started packing his things and was out the door with Misty following him. After a couple of blocks he stopped and spun around. "Why are you always following me around?" he angrily asked.

She looked down and brushed her feet for a moment then looked up again.

"Because your Pikachu is *so* cute!" she exclaimed as he face-faulted. "I could never leave such a cute thing!"

"Pika!" Pikachu encouraged.

Suddenly a loud wailing was heard in the distance and they all stepped to the side to let an ambulance scream by.

"What was that?" Alex said.

Misty turned and grabbed Pikachu in her arms. "I don't know but I'm going to find out where it's headed! You go on and get your Thunder Badge!"

Alex scratched his head, "Thunder Badge, eh? Smells like an Electric-type Gym Leader. C'mon Shrew!"

**o O o O o**

Alex entered the double doors of the Vermilion Gym but was nearly thwapped in the face by the double doors within. Screaming through them was a young boy with a fallen Pidgey.

"C'mon Pidgey!" the boy screamed, "You can make it!"

The boy disappeared out the doors and Alex turned back to face whatever was inside. He met a towering man wearing green camos and a dog-tag.

"I'm Alex Gedum from the town of Pallet! I challenge the Gym Leader in order to receive my Thunder Badge!"

The big man turned to face him and drew himself to his full height. "Alright, Baby. I've beaten others like your ilk and they were no match for me then. Just like you're no match for me now!"

"I'm no baby," Alex retorted.

The gym leader sniffed. "I call everybody who loses to me 'Baby'. Prepare to send your pokémon back to the Pokécenter cryin'."

Alex remembered the fleeing boy and was determined that wouldn't happen to him. "I'm ready!" he yelled.

**o O o O o**

They were standing in a regulations-sized pokémon arena with the bright overhead lights a gym usually had. A loudspeaker burst forth.

"A Trainer has challenged the gym leader, Lieutenant Surge. The gym leader has accepted the challenge. This will be a one-on-one battle. No time-limit."

Surge tossed out his pokéball, "Raichu, GO!"

"Rai!"

Alex took up his sweeping pose, "Shrew, go!"

"Dew!"

Surge laughed. "A ground pokémon. You know your stuff, Baby, but you haven't seen an electric pokémon like my Raichu! Raichu, Body Slam!"

"Shrew, Dive!"

Shrew quickly dove into the ground just as Raichu's body came slamming down over the hole.

Surge sat back and smiled, "Raichu, Thunder Punch!"

"Rai!" Raichu's fist crackled with electricity and he swung it at the ground below him just as Shrew popped up and out of the hole. Shrew slammed out of the hole and hit the ground hard.

Surge clenched his fist, "Mega Kick!"

"Chu!" Raichu somersaulted into the air and planted a large foot into Shrew's back. The ground pokémon shouted out in pain.

Alex was not about to give up so easily. "Shrew, Fury Swipes attack!"

Shrew jumped up and dodged Raichu's next Thunder Punch. He rebounded off the floor at Raichu and slashed at it with both sets of claws.

"Raichu, give it a Thunderbolt!" Surge pointed at Shrew, "Eat IT!"

Raichu let loose a massive electrostatic charge, which carried through the room and surged through Sandshrew's body. He desperately tried to ground himself and let the bolt flow through him but the voltage was to high and Shrew was thrown into the air, where he encountered the heavier charges.

Shrew thudded against Alex's feet while Alex stared in horror. Shrew had a crispy black shell covering it and Alex shuddered when he realized the blackened shell was what was left of Shrew's skin. "Shrew! No!"

**o O o O o**

Misty and Pikachu returned to the Vermilion Gym to find a massive room filled with trainers and their weak pokémon. She looked around and saw more trainers with their pokémon being wheeled in. Nearly all of the pokémon, she saw, had to be supported in the Intensive Care Units. She and Pikachu soberly scanned each trainer's face with their different pokémon. The door opened again and she saw a dejected Alex carrying a black lump over to a bed. She quickly rushed over and found the lump to be Shrew!

"Oh my God..." she breathed. Alex looked up at her briefly before looking back down at Shrew. Pikachu nearly fainted.

"Lt. Surge," Alex explained. He shook his head, "Toughest d*** trainer I've ever seen."

Around the room, the other trainers absently nodded their heads in agreement.

"But, but Shrew's a ground pokémon!" Misty exclaimed.

"Pokémon types don't matter when Surge is battling!" a trainer called from across the room.

The door burst open and a wailing pokémon entered. Its trainer escorted the Ratatta to its ICU bunk and a Chansey helped to plug the unfortunate pokémon into it.

**o O o O o**

Three days later Misty found Alex by Shrew's bed, tapping furiously at his pokédex. "What are you doing?" she asked softly.

He didn't look up from whatever he was doing. "I'm researching how to beat Surge's pokémon. There has to be some way I can defeat that thing with a ground pokémon."

Pikachu rubbed its head nervously and Alex looked at it.

"Don't worry Pikachu, I wouldn't dream of sending you against it."

"Against what?" Misty asked.

"Surge's pokémon, it's a...Wait, I've got it!" Alex shouted.

"Got what?" Misty asked again. She stomped her foot onto the floor, "Alex, you haven't told me what kind of pokémon Surge has!"

"Misty, stay here with Shrew," Alex quickly said, gathering up his pokéballs.

"You too Pikachu. Sorry Shrew, but you're in no condition to battle just yet. I'll be back. Later!" he called as he ran out the door.

"But, but..." Misty looked down at the dejected Shrew. "Don't worry Shrew. I'm sure he wouldn't abandon you. He must have found a way to counteract whatever happened to you or something."

Shrew slowly nodded and began to Rest.

**o O o O o**

Alex was biking along as furiously as he could until he reached the outskirts of Vermilion City. He checked his map and compared it to Dexter's notes, then set off again. Minutes later he was in front of a large cave with a sign labeling it as the Diglett's Cave.

He stepped inside of the cave and switched on his flashlight. All around him he could see dirt moving around, shifting. Above him the hard stone walls seemed to be smoothened out, as if not to let any Zubats gain purchase there. He listened softly and could hear the faint sounds of "Dig, diglett dig, diglett dig, diglett dig..." echoing throughout the cavernous rooms.

He jerked to the side as several rounded sticks shot up from the earth and chanted, "Dig, diglett dig, diglett dig..."

He pulled out a pokéball and prepared to battle when a larger mound shot up and three separate sticks shot out as one. "Trio, trio, trio." He quickly pulled out Dexter.

—_Diglett, the mole pokémon. These ground pokémon are very fast and hard to capture. They rarely venture aboveground outside of caves and usually never show their entire body. In fact, it is not known if a Diglett can be pulled out from the ground entirely—_

He swung Dexter's infrared sensor to the second group of pokémon.

—_Dugtrio, the mole pokémon. The reason to why three Diglett would evolve once banded together is a mystery as common as the reason why a Slowpoke would evolve when a Shellder clamps onto its tail. Despite appearing to be three separate Diglett, Dugtrio always attack and move as one and their attacks, speed, defense, and specials are all almost triple that of a Diglett. They can move at the speed of light, so it is almost unheard of catching one from the wild—_

Alex held out the pokéball he'd pulled out earlier. "Diglett, Dugtrio, one of you will be mine!" He threw the ball and all the pokémon simply vanished, leaving only their burrows as evidence they'd been there.

"Char?" the emerging pokémon asked curiously.

Alex sat down dejectedly. "Surge's Raichu was able to overcome Shrew's grounding by knocking him into the air where he couldn't ground the electricity. I need a pokémon that *can't* be knocked off the ground like that. These Diglett could be just what I need!"

Charmander looked at Alex quizzically. "Char? Charmander char."

Alex sighed. "I guess you're right." He stood up proudly, "Shrew can do it if we plan this time!"

Charmander happily "char"-ed for Alex before returning to his pokéball. Alex snatched it up, replaced it on his belt and walked back to where he'd left his bike.

**o O o O o**

When Alex returned to the Vermilion Pokécenter, it was nearly dusk and a few minutes from curfew time. He quietly entered Shrew's room and found Misty asleep in the chair next to the door.

He smiled at the serene expression on her face, and then he walked over to Shrew's side. He placed his arms around his best friend and his head on the mattress next to him. After a few moments, he was quietly asleep.

After about a minute in that position, Shrew instinctively curled up into a ball in Alex's arms.

**o O o O o**

Alex woke up early the next day and checked the calendar against the wall. He quickly got some breakfast while Shrew and Misty were still asleep and piled up a second tray for Misty. When he returned to the room, Misty was just waking up but Shrew was still a snoozing little ball.

Putting a finger to his mouth, he placed the second breakfast tray next to her and went over to Shrew. He shook the pokémon gently and Shrew slowly uncoiled. As he rubbed his eyes Alex presented Shrew with a small gift-wrapped box and a bag of pokétreats.

When he saw the two objects, Shrew looked at the calendar and gave a happy exclamation. "Shrew!"

Misty began devouring the food in front of her, "What's the occasion?" she mumbled.

As Shrew began scarfing down the pokétreats, Alex explained to her, "Today is the third anniversary of the day Shrew and I found each other. Ever since that day, we'd been friends and every year for the past two years I gave Shrew a little gift and a bag of pokétreats."

"Ah," Misty commented. "How cute!"

Shrew finished the pokétreats and carefully shred the wrapping around the box to reveal a small, stuffed Pikachu doll. Shrew eagerly hugged it while Misty gave another quizzical look at Alex.

He opened up his backpack and showed her a Sandshrew Pokédoll and a Charmander one. "These were Shrew's first and second year gifts. For some reason he really loves these things. It's somewhat funny, my starting pokémon was a Charmander because I let Shrew pick and we'd gotten that Charmander Pokédoll a year earlier."

Shrew held out his paw and Alex gave the two pokédolls to him. Immediately, Shrew began a mock two-on-one pokémon battle where the Sandshrew was kicking the other two dolls' stuffings' out of them.

Nurse Joy entered the room and noticed Alex, Misty, and Shrew with his dolls.

"Oh, hello," she said.

Alex jumped to his feet, "Nurse Joy, is Shrew healthy enough to battle yet?"

Joy consulted her printout sheet and smiled. "As a matter of fact, I was coming in here to tell you that your Sandshrew's been given a clean bill of health."

"Alright!" Alex cheered. He whirled around as Joy left the room, "C'mon, Shrew. We're gonna go give some payback to that Surge!"

Shrew stopped using the Shrew doll to pound the Pikachu into the bedsheets and turned around to look at Alex, determination in his eyes.

**o O o O o**

"What's wrong, Baby? Your Sandshrew got a death wish?"

Surge and Alex were again standing at opposite sides of the pokémon field and Surge was throwing out his usual taunts.

Alex was silent.

Surge shrugged, "Fine then. I have no objections to utterly crushing your pokémon again. Raichu, go!"

The giant electric pokémon ran out onto the field to meet Alex's Sandshrew. Alex was quick on the offensive.

"Shrew, Mega Kick!"

"Raichu, Thunder punch!"

Raichu cocked its fist back and threw it out at Shrew, a crackling, electric mass.

Shrew leapt over the outstretched arm and spun around to shoot his leg into the upper part of Raichu's skull. As the electric rodent hobbled forward several paces, Shrew ran at Raichu and rolled up, sailing at Raichu's back.

"Shrew, Tackle!"

Shrew's flying, rolling body connected with the back of Raichu's head, hobbling him forward flat onto his face. But as Shrew rebounded, the prostrate Raichu lashed its whip-like tail, creating a gash in Shrew's left arm. Shrew clutched his arm in pain.

Surge was not in the least fazed by the momentary disruption. "Raichu, Body Slam!"

Somehow Raichu launched itself straight into the air from its supine position and Shrew comically ran around in a circle trying to get out from underneath the falling body.

**WHAM!**

Raichu dusted himself off and slowly got up to inspect the Pancake-a-la-Shrew he'd made. But all that there was on the ground was a small burrow sign. A huge sweat drop appeared on Raichu's face as the ground beneath it began to rumble. "Chu..."

The next few moments were a blur to both trainers but when things began to die down, a happy little Shrew was standing before Alex, and Raichu was in the process of falling back to the earth. Alex was prepared for victory when Raichu abruptly flipped onto its feet. Surge smirked at Alex and called out his next move.

"Raichu, give it the Thunder Bolt!"

Alex and Shrew both bit back outcries of dismay and Alex implemented his strategy. "DIG!"

Shrew hastily dug himself a burrow before Raichu could release the charge and he settled himself for the thunderstorm that was to follow. He was not wholly disappointed.

The thunder strikes splashed across the windows and the floor, exploding the glass fragments outwards and causing a few lights to fall from the ceiling. The ground began to spark with the charge and Alex dived to the side as a stray bolt cracked the walls behind him.

When it was all over, Shrew peeked his head out to watch the exhausted Raichu.

"Shrew?" it asked Alex. Alex nodded and motioned towards the tired pokémon. He walked over to Raichu and tapped a claw onto its forehead, and Raichu collapsed in exhaustion.

While Alex was jumping around in the background Surge was astonished. "Wha...Raichu?"

It was no use, the electric pokémon had shocked once too many times at its gaping eyes registered spirals all around.

**o O o O o**

Surge handed back Alex's Pokécard with his Gym-Winnings and then gave him his Thunder Badge. "That was really something," Surge said. "You and your Shrew work good together."

"Thanks," Alex said as he took back his stuff. "You've trained your Raichu really well...as well."

Raichu was applauding Shrew's ability and Shrew was modestly waving it off.

"C'mon, Shrew!" Alex called as he spun around. "We're on the road to Celadon City."

**o O o O o**

Misty was waiting for them back at the pokécenter. She gasped when she saw Shrew's bandaged arm but then smiled a little as Alex proudly showed her his Thunder Badge. When Alex looked around for Pikachu she explained that he'd gone to watch the battle, or something.

"Why didn't you go with him?" Alex said as he treated Shrew's arm with a potion.

Misty shrugged, "I didn't see why not. You mother your pokémon too much Alex." She cut off as she noticed Alex and Shrew's withering stares. "Alright, alright," she said, backing towards the door. "I'll go get him."

After two hours, Alex got worried. The gym was only a ten-minute round-trip from the pokécenter and Misty should have been back a loong time ago. He checked out of the pokécenter, gathered up his pokémon, and starting walking towards the malls at Vermilion on a hunch.

Twelve minutes later Alex and Shrew were sitting on a bench at a common but rather isolated vantage point. There they finally saw Misty emerging from a clothes store with Pikachu by her side. Alex got up and waved at the pair and they started heading for Alex and Shrew.

About halfway there a rather large rock flew out of the bushes and hit Misty in the head. She fell forward, knocked-out and Pikachu was looking around in confusion.

"Misty! Pikachu!"

"Shrew! Sand!"

The two began running towards where Misty lay, but a large, black cloud engulfed the two and they could hear Pikachu coughing inside. Alex threw out a pokéball, "Pidgeotto, Whirlwind!"

"Pidgeo!" Pidgeotto screamed as it began fanning the smoke away. "Geo geo geo geo geo geo..."

The smoke cleared, but Pikachu and Misty were gone.

**o O o O o**

Alex and Shrew crept forward through the underbrush at a very slow and careful pace. For all the kidnappers had been successful, they were clumsy and Pidgeotto's aerial survey had quickly found their tracks.

Alex pulled back several branches from a bush and saw two black clad people standing over the caged Pikachu and an unconscious Misty.

Alex gasped when he saw Misty. Her head was bleeding and she had a sickly pallor that made his stomach turn. This obviously did not effect the kidnappers, as they were rummaging around through her backpack.

"Hm, all this twit has is a Goldeen and two Staryu," a distinctly familiar male's voice said.

"Well this Pikachu could be useful," the female said.

Alex's mind clicked. It was those two Rockets from Mt. Moon and the path from Bill's Lighthouse to Cerulean City! He searched frantically for their names again, let's see...aha! Butch and Cassidy. He began to think of a plan...

**o O o O o**

It was night, and Butch and Cassidy, members of the Infamous Team Rocket, were rummaging through Misty's backpack again when Butch glanced over at Misty. He nudged Cassidy, "Say, shouldn't we get this girl to a hospital? Team Rocket's only interested in pokémon, not humans."

Cassidy cut him off, "We let that girl escape she squeals and this operation is canceled. We can't let that happen."

Suddenly their campfire was snuffed out by some source of water and all the electric lights went down.

"What the?" Butch exclaimed.

A spotlight mysteriously appeared out of the sky and some kid was highlighted in the light. He spun around.

"Prepare for trouble, make it single!

Too protect the pokémon from the likes of you,

The ones who crush the unfortunate under your shoe!

To denounce the evils of thiev'ry and deceit,

I am the one you'd hate to meet!

Alex Gedum!

Throwing my pokémon out to fight,

You're so used to the dark you're afraid of the light!"

"SHREW!"

"That's right!"

Butch and Cassidy were livid with rage at the poetic rape of their motto. "How dare you insult Team Rocket as such!" Cassidy yelled out. "Now hear the true criminals of the world say it correctly!"

"That's right," Butch said.

"Prepare for trouble!"

"And make it double."

"To infest the world with- hurk!"

"To divide all peoples within our- ack!"

The two pokéballs Alex threw at their faces shut them up nicely.

The two Rockets got up and glared at him. "We'll shut you up for good!" Butch cried out as he released his pokéball. "Koffing, go!"

"Grimer, go!" Cassidy yelled.

Alex coughed into his hand and pointed behind the duo. "Um..."

Cassidy and Butch turner around to find a Gyarados and a Butterfree hovering behind them. As they froze in fear, Alex used the distraction to release the rest of his pokémon.

"Charmander, Pidgeotto, GO!" He looked down, "You too Shrew! Come with me!"

It was a much more lopsided repeat of the Mt. Moon battle. Grimer and Koffing never had a chance in Celadon. Pidgeotto, Charmander, Gyarados, and Butterfree all tackled the two Rockets and their pokémon simultaneously while Alex and Shrew ran towards the captive Pikachu and Misty.

Misty was worse off than Alex had even predicted. She had obviously lost a lot of blood from the gash in her forehead and Pikachu was slumped over into his cage. Shrew and Alex quickly made short work of the ropes binding Misty and the lock caging Pikachu and they pulled them out of the battle-zone. When they returned to the scene of the fight, a dirty but proud troupe of pokémon stood or hovered happily while Alex saw a small star wink in the distance.

"Hurry," he said, pointing back where he'd left Misty and Pikachu, "there's no time to loose, Misty need's immediate help. Gyarados, Butterfree, Pidgeotto, do you think it would be too much for the three of you to help carry her?" None of the pokémon shook their heads. Alex nodded grimly and held out two pokéballs. "Sorry Charmander, but we need to save weight." Charmander vanished into one the balls and Alex turned to Pikachu. Silently cursing himself for doing the inevitable, he zapped Pikachu into the second pokéball.

Ten minutes later, they were on their way. Gyarados was actually doing much of the flying since he was the largest, and Pidgeotto and Butterfree were acting as spotters for Misty. They had the ropes Team Rocket had used to tie her up with, using them to anchor her to Gyarados and the other two flyers. Alex and Shrew were hanging on tight near Gyarados's head, enduring the ride to Celadon City.

Alex looked back at Misty and decided that things had gone from bad to worse. She still had not regained consciousness throughout the whole ordeal and the gash was increasing slightly from the stress of riding Gyarados. He could only hope that they'd reach the next hospital in time...

**o O o O o**

Fortunately, since Celadon had such a huge population, normal hospitals were more common than pokécenters.

"She's resting comfortably," the doctor said after nearly three hours of surgery.

"But that wound was left there for a long time. How did she get it?"

"Hit with a rock," Alex said bluntly. He saw the doctor's suspicious glance and quickly added, "It was Team Rocket. I think they were after her pokémon."

The doctor's expression softened. "Sorry. It's just that you kids are young and often little things become big things and you aren't mature to handle situations like that properly."

"Pokémon trainers are a breed apart," Alex said defensively.

The doctor waved his hands in dismissal, "No offense to you people. I've heard of this 'Team Rocket' and their quest for these, these 'pokémon' of yours. I think I can believe an organization like that would stoop so low as to harm a young girl."

"Anyway," Alex said, anxious to get to the point. The doctor sighed. "No use getting your attention misdirected is there? Well the girl will recover physically, but there was a lot of blood lost and her brain became slightly oxygen deprived. She may loose a few of her memories, mostly her most recent ones."

Alex sighed. "I understand. She may not remember my pokémon or me then. Nurse Joy at the pokécenter gave a similar prognosis with Pikachu. I was thinking of sending him back to my home town to recover."

"You're going to leave? Just like that?" Alex stood up and walked out the door, past the doctor. "It's strange, but neither Misty nor Pikachu are meant to be around me," he said. He shrugged. "It's like it's not their destiny."

**o O o O o**

Alex set Pikachu's pokéball on top of his pokédex. "So this is it," he said softly. The rest of his pokémon nodded solemnly. "We won't forget you Pikachu," he said as he tapped in the command sequence for the pokéball transport system. He hit the EXECUTE button and watched as the pokéball flashed white and disappeared.

"Goodbye."

**o O o O o**

Alex didn't feel like going to the pokécenter that day so he headed straight for the Celadon Gym. The roof reminded him of a Vileplume's head and he remembered that Celadon's Gym leader used grass-pokémon. He was prepared to use Butterfree, then Charmander, Pidgeotto, Shrew, and Gyarados last if he had to. As he approached the entrance he saw a trainer being thrown out with a big, fat X on his face. Alex quickened his pace and knelt next to the young kid. "What happened?" he asked.

The trainer rubbed his face futilely before answering rather cryptically, "Don't insult their perfume..."

**o O o O o**

Alex walked up to the admissions desk and asked rather bluntly, "I'm Alex Gedum from Pallet. Where's the Gym Leader?"

The girl at the desk gave him a small frown and began tapping at the computer beside her. "Get who?"

Alex face-faulted and straightened himself back up.

She didn't turn away from her computer but began tapping something into it,

"Badges?"

Alex was a bit surprised at the question, he didn't know he needed some sort of permit to get a battle in! "Uh, three. Boulder, Cascade, and Thunder."

She began tapping the information into her computer, "Age?"

"Eleven."

"Pokémon?"

"I have five with me."

"Length of pokémon journey?"

"About a half-year to a year."

"Do you like perfume?"

Alex remembered the previous trainer. "Uh, yeah...perfume...is...good."

She stared at him for a while and Alex managed to keep his face blank. "Alright, go into the central courtyard, Erika's in the garden."

Alex thanked her and edged away in the indicated question when he heard another receptionist pull out a large stamp and smack another would-be trainer upside the head with it. Several other girls came out and hauled him out the door.

Alex eventually found himself in the central garden area and was amazed by the huge diversity of plants. Grass pokémon walked here and there every now and then, rubbing against the flowers and other plants. Then Alex saw a lone, graceful woman sitting next to a Gloom, tending a nearby flower.

"Erika?" he called out tentatively.

She spun around and hesitantly smiled at him. She patted her red hairband as if to make sure it was in place and stood up. "Hello," she greeted. "Have you come to relax amongst the plants?"

Alex grabbed a pokéball and held it out at her. "I'm here for an official Gym Match!"

"I see," her expression hardened. "Nobody ever comes for my flowers anymore. I guess animal-pokémon are all they care about. Very well, I accept your challenge."

**o O o O o**

They stood at opposite ends of a grass-covered arena, and several of the off-duty receptionists were standing in the bleachers, cheering their gym leader on.

"We shall use three pokémon each, no time-limit." Her eyes hardened again,

"And if any one of your fire pokémon damages the surrounding plants, I will see fit to disqualify you. The Rainbow Badge is won with strategy and restriction, not blundering and carelessness. Do you accept the terms of this battle?"

Alex nodded and threw out the pokéball he'd been holding. "Butterfree, GO!"

Erika did a small little twirl before launching her own pokéball. "I choose, Tangela!"

A large mess of vines with feet and eyes appeared. Alex refrained from using Dexter, confident as he was that he needed only to know was that it was a plant.

"Butterfree, Sleep Powder!"

The butterfly-pokémon released a stream of yellow pollen over its unfortunate victim and Tangela was quickly snoozing its vines off.

"Tangela, return!" Erika cried. "Go Bellsprout!"

A large plant with eyes appeared and immediately began to grow slightly.

Alex pointed at the grass-poison pokémon, "Butterfree, Tackle it!"

Butterfree rushed in at Bellsprout just as it finished its growth maneuver.

Bellsprout jumped to the side and nearly ran Butterfree straight into the ground.

"Bellsprout, Vine whip!"

As Butterfree struggled to regain its flight beat Bellsprout unleashed a volley of vines which easily tied up the flying pokémon.

"Butterfree, Stun Spore!" Alex yelled.

It was no use, the more Butterfree struggled the more it got wound up and Alex grudgingly recalled it. "Charmander, Go!"

Recalling Erika's earlier warning still bouncing into his mind, he chose his next attack carefully, "Charmander, Slash!"

Bellsprout unleashed more vines but Charmander jumped to the side each time and cut them in half with his claws. He closed to point-blank range and began sawing the grass-pokémon in half.

"Bellsprout, return!" Erika turned to her Gloom, "Go, Gloom!"

"Gloom! Gloom gloom!"

Alex pulled out Dexter.

—_Gloom, a grass/poison-type pokémon. Gloom can emit high levels of poison gases that are nauseating and can often knock out a pokémon by itself. However, if properly refined, Gloom Gas can become a most pleasant perfume. An example of this the perfumes shop in Celadon City. Treat Gloom with caution, as very few pokémon are able to stand the smell—_

"Charmander, Ember Attack!"

Charmander swung his tail around and made contact with Gloom's flowery head.

It screamed and it was obvious Erika did not like the situation.

"Gloom, Poison Gas!"

Gloom let out a burst of poisonous gas out at Charmander just as he was bringing his tail down for another ember strike. The pressure of the gas was so great the fire turned itself into a flame-thrower aimed directly into Charmander's face. The little lizard went down hard.

"Ack!" Alex wailed. "Charmander, return!" He quickly thought which pokémon he had left would go well against Gloom's gas. "Pidgeotto, I choose you!"

Gloom let out another gas attack but Pidgeotto fanned it all away with a Whirlwind. Shrew began clapping as Erika reconsidered her plan.

"Gloom, Petal Dance!"

Gloom began to spin around and around and leaves flew everywhere. Pidgeotto managed to blow most of them away but the razor-sharp leaves sliced through its body every now and then. Shrew stopped clapping.

Alex took his battle pose again, "Pidgeotto, Whirlwind attack!"

Pidgeotto set up a large tornado, which blew Gloom nearly out of the arena.

"Wing Attack!"

The flying bird rushed in at Gloom, then bopped it over the head with its wing.

Alex face-faulted, "You know what I mean!"

Pidgeotto sighed, then slapped its wing straight into Gloom's face, knocking the grass-pokémon end over end and outside of the arena.

Alex threw out his arm with his fingers in a victory-V. "Yes! We beat Gloom!"

Erika tilted her head at Alex in a small, formal nod. Then she stepped aside and motioned towards one of the girls in the bleachers.

The girl immediately jumped up, holding a large stamp with a giant V on it, "Now you get our Victory Stamp!"

Erika gave the girl a warning look. "He won fair and square."

The girl sighed, "All right..." She reached into her pocket and drew out a glistening Rainbow Badge, and tossed it to Alex.

He deftly caught it, then he and Shrew gathered up the rest of his pokémon and possessions and left for the pokécenter.

**o O o O o**

When Alex left the pokécenter, he was in slightly down spirits. He'd abandoned Pikachu and Misty for what? A Badge? The hospital had reported she'd checked herself out, and Alex wasn't too surprised she hadn't asked about him. That was amnesia for ya.

He found himself wandering along the streets of Celadon when Shrew tugged onto his pant leg and pointed to a happy looking place, with lots of lights and sounds. He squinted and Alex could make it out as the Celadon Gambling Casino. He shrugged.

"What the hey? It probably wouldn't hurt that much.

He and Shrew walked inside and saw thousands of slot machines and hundreds of other games of chance. He looked around for the bar when something caught his eye. It was a man dressed in staff clothes, but his haircut was blue and split down the middle and there was something else familiar about him...

"Shrew," he whispered. Shrew looked at him. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" he asked, pointing Shrew's head down the direction of the man.

Shrew squinted and then gave a frightened warble. Alex quickly silenced him. It was Butch all right. And if he was here than Cassidy and the other Team Rocket members couldn't be far away.

He and Shrew carefully edged their way past the crowd until he was only a few feet away from the Rocket. He glanced down at Shrew. "Ya feel lucky?"

**o O o O o**

Butch, of Team Rocket, swore he'd never had as plumb an assignment as this one had proven to be. His job was to make sure nobody was suspicious of the poster behind him, a very special poster that he was supposed to make sure was anonymous. Butch had seen the folly of that stupid idea. Having somebody stick around there for hours was bound to draw attention. But so far it hadn't so he began to relax a little.

"Hey! What are *you* doing here?" a familiar kid's voice shouted.

Butch spun around and narrowed his eyes. "You! I should have known you would come. You always seem to know too much about our plans. By the way, How's your girlfriend?" he sneered.

Alex didn't change his expression and it was obvious even to Butch that he was really pissed off. "First of all, she's not my girlfriend. Second of all, that was the worst excuse I've ever seen of somebody trying to be inconspicuous."

Butch's face reddened. "That's none of your business. You stay away from that poster!"

Alex's expression still didn't change but his eyes lit up, and Butch realized he'd made a calculated error. "Make me," the boy retorted.

Butch produced a pokéball and threw it, "Fine kid, if ya wanna be sent back to

your girlfriend cryin'. Raticate, GO!"

"Shrew, Take Down!"

As Raticate emerged from his pokéball, Shrew was already up and running and he slammed into Raticate's face, bringing both the pokémon down to the ground. Shrew rebounded and Slashed at Raticate's whiskers. Both of the ones on its left cheek fell off and suddenly Raticate couldn't maneuver very well. When Raticate bumped into the wall several times, Butch recalled it. "How did you?"

Alex smiled, "You should study your own pokémon, Butch. Raticate can't maneuver without their whiskers!"

Butch sneered again. "I'll teach you, Zubat, Go!"

The blind bat flew straight at Shrew but Alex was ready.

Alex whipped his arm out, "Shrew, Slash"

At the speed and angle of Zubat's attack plane, Shrew merely had to reach up and swat the bat down to the ground. While it was flitting around, Shrew stepped on one of its wings and kicked it back towards Butch.

Butch was angry and humiliated, he had to get out of there! "Koffing, Smoke Screen!"

Butch's Koffing appeared out of its pokéball and began shooting out a heavy fog.

With the level of smoking going on in the Casino, it hardly made a difference in the surrounding atmosphere, but it was enough to block Alex's vision. When the smoke was all fanned away, Butch and his pokémon were gone.

**o O o O o**

Alex walked over to where he'd first seen Butch standing and felt around the poster. "Hm," he murmured to himself, "Butch was adamant about guarding something here...let's see if we can't found out what it was."

Shrew hopped onto Alex's shoulder and began helping in the search. Minutes later, they found a slight, almost undetectable lump beneath the poster. They carefully raised the bottom up and found a recessed switch. Alex looked at Shrew.

"Do we press it?"

Shrew nodded and they heard a slight mechanical whirring when he pressed the button. They looked over to where Butch and Alex had battled and found a small crack had appeared. Alex walked over to it and gave it a slight push.

The door opened up to the inside.

Shrew was immediately down the steps that led into the darkness, Alex followed with a one-liner, "Here goes nothing."

**o O o O o**

Shrew was the first to find the small, personal looking elevator with a large "R" on it. Alex walked over to it and tried the controls but it wouldn't budge.

"Hm," he said thoughtfully, "I wonder if one of those weirdoes would have access to this."

"We don't", a shrill voice said. "But we know who does!"

Alex spun around to find two Rockets standing in the doorway. But he didn't recognize them. "Who're you?" he asked.

The long-haired redhead tossed her head back and laughed. "You don't have the mind to understand an organization like Team Rocket! Allow us to introduce ourselves!"

The blue-haired boy that seemed younger than Butch nodded and produced a rose out of nowhere.

The redhead threw out her arm, "To protect the world from devastation!"

The blue-head took a similar pose, "To unite all peoples within our nation!"

"Oh no," Alex groaned. "Not again!"

The redhead stopped her recital. "Never interrupt the Rocket Motto!" Something about that girl's imperious nature reminded him of someone he once saw.

His mind abruptly clicked. "Hey! I know who you two are! You're that Jesse and James who got caught cheating at Pokémon Tech!"

Jesse and James face-faulted, "How do you know about that!" James angrily said.

"I have my ways," Alex retorted. "And that motto is such a rip-off of those other Rockets'"

Jesse became steamed, "We stole it fair and - I mean, we made it up and _they _stole it from us!"

"Uh, yeah," remarked an unconvinced Alex. He held out his hand to reveal the four pokéballs he grasped between his fingers, "Let's get it over with."

Jesse and James tossed out their pokéballs. "Ekans, GO!"

"Koffing, go!"

Alex swept his left arm out from the right side of his body, "Pidgeotto,

Charmander, Gyarados, Butterfree, Sandshrew, GO!"

James paused, "Hey, you're not supposed to use more than one pokémon in a battle. It's the League Rules."

Alex snorted, "Since when does Team Rocket play by the rules? Pokémon, attack!"

Shrew and Charmander immediately Slashed at Ekans while Pidgeotto and Butterfree Tackled the floating Koffing. Both pokémon nearly slammed into their trainers' heads. Gyarados towered over the two Rockets and they quickly issued orders before they found themselves wrapped up into its coiled-up body.

"Koffing, Sludge attack!" James yelled.

"Ekans, Bind!" yelled Jesse.

"Charmander, Ember attack! Pidgeotto, Butterfree, Whirlwind! Shrew, Dig!"

Koffing spew sludge at Pidgeotto and Butterfree but the two flying pokémon flapped their wings and blew it right back at the grinning ball. Koffing was blinded for the moment and the two joined the fight against Ekans.

Shrew had disappeared underground when Ekans tried to wrap it up. It turned to Charmander for a similar attack but Charmander's flaming tail burned its head.

Somehow, conveniently, all the Rockets and their pokémon landed on the same spot as Gyarados and Alex's other pokémon retreated. Shrew rammed the Rockets from underneath and they all went flying through the roof.

With the distractions over, Alex recalled Gyarados, Butterfree, and Pidgeotto but kept Charmander to provide light in the dim area. They walked along the corridors and down stairs but encountered no more trouble until they came upon a very strange room.

This room's floor was made up entirely of glossy tiles, except for places where there was either a tile with strange, glowing arrows, or quadrant blocks that looked rubbery.

Alex gingerly stepped onto one of the glossy tiles and felt himself loose his footing and slam onto his back. "Ow..."

He looked over and saw Shrew standing over one of the arrow tiles. He stepped on one and suddenly Shrew was thrown in the direction of the arrows and sliding across the glossy tiles. "Shrew!" the little pokémon exclaimed in fright.

Alex rushed over to the arrow-tile where Shrew had departed from and jumped onto it, "Hang on, Shrew!"

Alex slipped, slid, and spun in a straight line down the slippery path. Suddenly he hit a rubber tile and he stopped. Shrew walked over to his friend in concern and Alex helped himself up. He rubbed his back and was surprised to find no form of grease on the clothing. The tiles were just...slippery.

"I think I have the hang of this," he remarked.

Shrew looked at him, puzzled.

Alex motioned towards the network of tiles. "This is a maze, the only way out of here is through those two doors and we want to go through that one," he said, pointing towards the exit. "These tiles make it hard on people walking through and you have to step on certain tiles to make it there. Look," he indicated the multiple choices they had for directional tiles. "However, we have a third option. Shrew would you be kind enough to just break through this floor. I don't feel like playing Team Rocket's games."

"Shrew," the little pokémon said as he began burrowing. He popped down into the room above and Alex dropped in behind him.

"Thanks, buddy," he said. He dusted himself off when he noticed Shrew was gazing across the room. Alex looked in the direction Shrew was and froze.

Six or more Rockets were standing at the opposite side of the room, holding guns.

"Greetings Alex," Butch said grudgingly. "Nice of you to... drop in."

Alex put his hand onto his pokéballs when a person behind him bashed his head with the butt of their rifle. The room went dark just before the ground rushed up to meet his face.

**o O o O o**

Alex came to in a small, isolated room. He looked down at himself, sure enough, the chair to which most hostages in the movies were tied to was present, and detaining him as well.

Next to him was a table with a cage atop it. Inside was Shrew, all curled up but for a small bump on his head. Alex leaned over and poked the cage with his head.

"Shrew, Shrew buddy. Wake up!"

The ground pokémon's eyes fluttered for awhile, and jerked open. He quickly jumped up but bashed its head into the top of the cage. "Shrew!"

"Hang on, Shrew," Alex said. He began to rock his chair against the table, hoping to topple Shrew's cage onto the ground and break it open or something. The cage fell...

...and didn't break.

"Shrew..." the pokémon said, rubbing new bumps on his head.

Alex hung his head. "That's the last time I watch the movies," he grumbled.

Suddenly the door behind him softly clicked open and a slender figure quietly entered the room.

"What the-"

"Shh," said the person. That voice was familiar...

"Erika?" Alex asked, craning his neck to look.

"Yes," she replied as she untied the ropes binding him to the chair. "It's me, Mr. Gedum."

Alex stretched briefly and was kneeling by Shrew's cage in a flash. He started working on a way to break the lock. "What are you doing here?" he asked her.

She motioned her Gloom over and quietly released Bellsprout. "Bellsprout, Cut those bars down. I've been petitioning the City Counsel to close this place down but I could never prove it was really harmful to the city. Because you found this criminal hideout, I finally have a chance of breaking this place."

Alex applied a small potion to Shrew after pulling him from the wreck of a cage.

"Okay, you're the Gym Leader, so what's the plan?"

Erika handed him a gas mask and pointed up at the ventilation grill. "First we pull this grill off and climb up and out," she said.

It took them the better part of ten minutes but the two of them finally balanced the table, the chair, and several books into a decent, but wobbly, ladder and pulled off the grill.

Alex balanced atop the rickety structure and leapt up towards the grill, pulling himself up and over the side. "Up and at 'em," he grunted. He turned around to help Shrew, then Gloom up and stepped to the side to allow Bellsprout's vines pull itself up.

They moved out of the way and he gave Erika and hand-up into the vent.

"Now what?"

Erika paused a moment to catch her breath and set off within the vent, careful to make as little noise as possible. Alex followed suit.

They came upon a large, central core-like area where there was a huge wind blowing downwards to the depths.

"What now?" Alex shouted over the roar.

Erika pointed down. "Since this place is subterranean, down to the lowest level is probably where their high level officials are."

"You seem pretty good at this sort of stuff, maybe you should get out more often." Alex commented.

Erika flashed him a smile, "Who's to say I don't?" She began climbing down a maintenance ladder.

**o O o O o**

After five minutes of climbing down they finally reached the ground floor access to the air vents. But here they encountered a derailment in their train of thought.

Alex prodded the weird device attached to the air vent panel. "It looks like an alarm of some sort. We pull the panel off and it goes off."

Erika nodded and pulled on her gas mask. Alex and Shrew followed suit. "I anticipated this, which is why there's a plan B." She pointed into the air vent, "Gloom, Poison Gas attack and Sleeping Powder!"

"Gloom!" The little plant sprayed a cloud of the mixture into the air vent and they waited outside for about five minutes.

Alex checked his watch, "That ought to be long enough. Now we waltz in and take custody of them?"

Erika nodded and then she pulled the alarm right off the vent. "I'll distract them while you go in with your pokémon. They'll track the alarm and..." she paused as the alarm did absolutely nothing. She prodded the base of it and pulled off the battery cover.

"Icky," she said as she pulled out sulfur-exploded batteries. "Good thing they don't use Energizer."

Alex shrugged and yanked the air vent grill off its hinges, then he crawled inside.

Since distractions were no longer required, Erika followed him in.

They crawled along the vents until they found a large boardroom where sleeping

Rockets lay sprawled against chairs, the floor, and the table. In one secluded, shadowy corner a man in an orange jacket lay sleeping in an ornate throne.

Alex pulled his Pokécard out of his pocket and waved it at Erika, "Ten to one odds he's the Boss Rocket."

Erika waved the card aside and slammed a palm into the grill. It came off its bolts and crashed to the ground, where she and Alex landed when they dropped into the room.

None of the Rockets stirred.

Alex and Erika nodded to each other and started tying all the Rocket Agents into a pile on the floor and were deciding how to handle the Boss Rocket when the door burst open and Cassidy, Butch, and four other Rockets barged into the room.

"Boss! We detected a couple of intruders around here and-" Cassidy's shouts broke off as she noticed the two trainers standing there. "You!" she said, pointing at Alex.

Butch held up his pokéballs, "There's no way your getting out of this one, kid! Nor you, Erika," he said, his gazing shifting to the Celadon Gym Leader.

"We're not finished yet," Erika said defiantly. Both of them still had their gas masks on and Erika yelled at the ceiling, "NOW!"

Cassidy snickered. "If you're looking for divine intervention, don't count on it."

Suddenly she and the other Rockets began to cough from Gloom's Poison Gas attack.

All the Rockets released their pokéballs at once before one of them passed out.

"Go Koffing, Zubat!" Butch yelled.

"Grimer, Raticate, go!" yelled Cassidy.

Alex released his pokémon, "Charmander, Pidgeotto, Gyarados, Butterfree!" He glanced over to see what pokémon Erika would use but did a double take as he realized she had frozen in fear. He waved his hand in front of her face, "Yo, Erika. Hel-lo!" He snapped a few times but no response peeped out of the obviously frightened woman.

"What the-"

"Grimer!" Cassidy's pokémon yelled.

Erika abruptly fainted.

"Of all the times..." Alex redirected his attention to the battle at hand.

"Charmander, Fire Spin! Pidgeotto, Gust attack! Butterfree, Stun Spore! Gyarados, Body Slam! Shrew, Tackle!"

Charmander let loose a flaming tornado while Pidgeotto released the usual wind-version. Butterfree sprinkled yellow flecks of powder over the Rockets and their pokémon while Gyarados threw itself onto one of the enemy pokémon. Shrew dropped from the ceiling vent and launched his ball-form at the heads of the Rocket pokémon.

Seconds later, the only trainers left were Butch, Cassidy, and Alex. All the rest of the Rockets had fled and Erika was still comatose from whatever had scared the willies out of her.

"Raticate, Hyper Fang!" Cassidy ordered.

"Koffing, Smokescreen!" Butch yelled.

"Koffing!" Koffing said as it released a thick cloud that was blinding Alex's pokémon.

"Rrrraticate!" a screaming voice shouted and nearby, Alex heard a pokémon squeal out in pain and a heavy thud.

"Pidgeotto and Butterfree, Whirlwind!" he shouted.

The smoke fanned away and they all saw Koffing on the ground with a chunk of its body missing and the missing parts in Raticate's mouth. Butch fainted at the gruesome injury and Cassidy was abashed.

She glared at him, "Team Rocket *will* hunt you down, Alex of Pallet." She threw down a smoke grenade and Alex was left coughing up dust. When the smoke cleared away every single Rocket, including the one in the red suit was gone.

**o O o O o**

"Thanks Jenny, for all the help," Alex said as she escorted the remaining Rockets into the police wagon.

"No problem!" she said. "It's my duty, after all, to rid the cities of these pokémon thieves."

They thanked each other again and Alex went back to the pokécenter. As he went inside he noticed Erika picking up her pokémon. He waved at her and she turned around.

"Hey, I thought you Gym Leaders sent your pokémon with those mail boxes or something."

Erika shook her head. "Oh no, I would never trust anybody with my pokémon.

Not that people are untrustworthy but it helps the pokémon bond if you're with them all the time."

Alex shrugged and narrowed his eyes as he picked up his pokémon. "I have to ask you something, when Cassidy sent out her Grimer, you totally freaked. What happened?"

Erika paused and Alex sensed he'd hit a sensitive topic. Gloom walked up to her and started hugging her leg encouragingly. She smiled, "When I was a young girl, I was attacked by a Grimer. It was one of the worst days of my life." She smiled down at the cheerful pokémon by her leg, "Gloom here saved me. It was the reason I got into the grass-type pokémon in the first place."

Alex smiled, "Okay, I get it. I feel almost the same way about Shrew. Of course I'm not purely into the ground-type. I train lots of different pokémon."

Erika smiled and walked out of the pokécenter. "Thanks for helping me close down the Game Corner, Alex."

Alex did an aborted wave, "Yeah, sure."

**o O o O o**

Biking over to Saffron City was tough. There was grass everywhere and pokémon trainers from all over wanting a piece of him.

"Poliwag, Go!" yelled a Juggler Trainer. A small, tadpole-like pokémon popped out of its pokéball.

"Wag, wag!"

Alex pointed at the Poliwag, "Shrew, go!"

The Juggler laughed. "A Sandshrew? You obviously don't know your pokémon types. Ground pokémon are weak against water types!"

Alex grinned, he'd heard the same conversation over and over before. "Shrew, Tackle!"

Shrew curled itself into a ball as the Poliwag started spinning the large spiral on its belly, its Hypnosis attack. But Shrew, since he was a ball and couldn't see, merely ran up to the small fish-thingy and literally bowled it out of the way. "Shrew!"

The trainer recalled his dizzy-eyed Poliwag. "It would appear I underestimated your Shrew, young man."

Alex sighed and held out his hand. The trainer reluctantly handed over his Pokécard and Alex began the money transfer. "Sorry," he said when the Juggler raised an eyebrow at his cold, indifferent manner. "My mind's been wandering lately."

**o O o O o**

Saffron City, the biggest metropolis Alex had ever seen in his life. He looked around and decided the first order of business was to find the pokécenter, then the gym, and then all the rest of the sites.

Finding the pokécenter proved harder than expected, however. He walked around for a while until he came upon a roundish, weird looking building. "What's that?" he said to himself.

A jogger came up from behind and began jogging in place. "You come to Saffron City and you don't know Sabrina's Gym?"

Alex turned around and noticed the black-bearded man. "Well, Saffron City is pretty large. Besides, I was looking for the Pokécenter. But thanks for telling me this was the gym!" he said cheerfully as he biked off.

The jogger shook his head. "That kid has spunk. I only hope he has what it takes to beat Sabrina without a loss." he said, his eyes seeming to stare into the past. After a moment he shook his head and jogged off.

**o O o O o**

The next morning, Alex unwound himself from Shrew and the bunked-bed as he went to look for some breakfast. Joy handed him his pokéballs on the way back and Alex decided he needed more pokémon.

As he ate, Shrew finally woke and uncurled himself. He blinked several times and hopped off to Alex's backpack.

Alex held up one of Shrew's food bags and the eager Sandshrew scarfed it down.

AJ had given Alex several stockpiles of the food, made from his "own secret recipe" and Alex had to admit that Shrew looked healthier and stronger each new day. They packed up and Alex checked the calendar on the wall.

"Hm," he said. "I guess I better phone Professor Oak. It's been a while."

Shrew nodded and the two headed off for the videophones.

As Alex waited for the call to go through he searched his memory for Sabrina, the Gym Leader, and what he knew of her pokémon.

"Eh, oh! Hello Alex!"

Alex focused on the videophone's screen. "Hey, Professor. How's Pikachu?" He suddenly noticed that Oak appeared very tired and his hair resembled Don King.

Oak coughed into his hand. "Er, it seems that Pikachu was distressed at leaving you and we had a hard time controlling its electric shocks. I finally recaptured it in a pokéball."

Alex had a surprised look on his face, "But Pikachu hates pokéballs!"

Oak waved it aside, "I know, I know. But there was no other way. I was thinking of using your Pikachu as a starting pokémon. We have four trainers getting ready next year and I only have three: Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle."

Alex searched his memory. "Has it been that long?"

"Yes, it's almost been a year and half of a half since you left. How many badges do you have?"

"Four," Alex gloomily muttered.

A giant sweat drop appeared on Oak's face. "I see. Well, where are you now?"

"Saffron City."

Oak's face hardened, "Be careful Alex. I've heard some disturbing rumors of Sabrina. You may face your toughest challenge there."

The screen went blank and Alex hung up the receiver. He turned to Shrew. "Let's get that Marsh Badge."

**o O o O o**

Alex burst through the doors of the Saffron Gym and found himself in a maze of corridors. "Uh..."

Shrew cocked his head, confused and they arbitrarily picked a corridor and headed off.

Eventually they came across a room and Alex saw people in white coats bending spoons. "What are they doing that for?" Suddenly he noticed that both of their hands were free! Some of the spoons were levitating and bending all by themselves. Alex hastily retreated, "Weird."

"What are you doing here?" a heavily accented voice burst out.

Alex turned around and saw a medium built man with a white coat and a mask pulled over his mouth. The man noticed the pokéballs on his belt and snickered. "So you've come to challenge the Great Sabrina have you? Follow me." He turned and walked down the corridor.

Alex followed suit and the man departed, leaving them standing before the double doors that obviously led to Sabrina's battle-room. He cautiously entered and saw what appeared to be a shrine. "This is too weird," he muttered.

Suddenly a light shone and a little girl appeared in the opposite end of the room. "Hi," she said. "Wanna play?" She held up her arms and Alex saw a pokéball suspended between them.

"So you're the great Sabrina. I've heard a lot about you," he said. "I am Alex Gedum and I challenge you to an official Pokémon League Match!"

"So let us begin," an ethereal voice proclaimed. The voice was deeper and seemed to be emanating from everywhere at once. Shrew looked around in alarm.

Alex's confident manner broke a bit but he shrugged it off. "I choose Shrew as my first pokémon."

"Go ahead," the eerie voice said. "Use as many pokémon as you wish. It won't matter."

The lights across the other side of the room flashed on and a young woman appeared sitting in a chair. The girl was apparently a doll that had been sitting on her lap.

Abruptly Sabrina, the real Sabrina, stood up and floated down to the gym floor.

"Now that's the strangest Gym-Jump I've ever seen," Alex remarked.

The doll opened up her arms and the pokéball floated out. "Pokéball, go," Sabrina said.

Shrew began to shake slightly as a menacing form emerged from the pokéball.

The light from the flash faded and Alex stepped back in surprise at the pokémon Sabrina was using.

Sabrina's eyes began to glow blue and Alex became *really* afraid. "Begin," she said calmly.

**o O o O o**

—_Abra, a Psychic-type pokémon. Abra sleeps eight hours a day but its psychic potential is so great it can sense its enemies and teleport away. A few Abra have demonstrated even greater psychic ability by transporting other objects from a distance—_

Abra's eyes were squeezed shut but its standing form seemed to be more intimidating than any eyes could convey.

"I guess this one is awake," muttered Alex. "Shrew, go! Slash it now!"

"Dew!" Sandshrew ran at gangling pokémon and swiped his claws through the air.

At the last minute, Abra teleported away and was standing next to Shrew. Shrew turned to attack again when Abra's eyes opened to reveal a ghoulish red glow. Shrew backed away slightly and shot his claws out again.

Abra teleported away again.

Alex rubbed his head and he turned to Sabrina's emotionless form, "Hey, are you gonna battle or make fun of my Shrew?"

Sabrina didn't respond and Abra teleported behind Shrew to avoid another Slash.

Alex bared his teeth. "Shrew, return!"

Shrew ran back to Alex's side as Alex produced a pokéball.

"Pidgeotto, Go!"

"Pidgeo!" the flying pokémon screamed.

"Pidgeotto, Wing Attack! If that doesn't work use the Razor Wind!"

"Geo!" Pidgeotto flew straight in at Abra to bash it with its wings but Abra predictably teleported away. The bird began to flap its wings to create a powerful tornado with several rocks and other sharp objects scattered across the room. The tornado was headed for Abra and the pokémon didn't seem to notice its presence.

Alex grinned at the impending victory when Abra began to glow, and so did Pidgeotto. Abruptly the two glowing forms revealed themselves to be the opposites of each other and Alex realized Abra had used its advanced teleportation technique to switch places with Pidgeotto!

"Oh s***," he said as Pidgeotto was hurled into the tornado's path. When the Razor Wind dissipated Pidgeotto was all starry-eyed. "Argh, Pidgeotto return! Gyarados, go!"

The long water/dragon pokémon roared a challenge but Abra didn't respond.

Sabrina maintained her glowing-eyed silent commands and Abra teleported throughout the room to avoid Gyarados's various Tackles, Bites, and Slams.

"Gyarados!" Alex yelled, "Hyper Beam!"

The growling Gyarados reared its head back and several spots of energy began to accumulate within its mouth. Suddenly Gyarados through its head forward and blindingly fast beam shot out at Abra.

Fast as the Hyper Beam was, Abra was faster and suddenly Gyarados found *himself* in the path of the beam and Abra across the other side of the room.

Shrew hid his face in his paws as Alex recalled the fainted Gyarados. "Butterfree, go!"

The Butterfly pokémon stretched its wings out "Free-e-e-e!"

"Butterfree, Confusion!"

"Wee!" The pokémon paused in midair and psychic waves ran from its body into the Abra.

Abra looked around in confusion and began to teleport all around the room at random, yet still within the boundaries of the field. He turned to Sabrina and Alex saw her begin to glow slightly white with the impending teleportation.

Suddenly Sabrina's eyes glowed brighter and Abra's eyes changed color to match hers. They cleared and Abra shook his head, turning back to Butterfree.

Alex snapped his fingers, "Rats." He remembered that Abra could use his devastating teleportation abilities on any projectile moves Butterfree made, so he changed his strategy. "Butterfree, Tackle it!"

Abra didn't move as Butterfree neared it, but then Butterfree vanished and reappeared closer to the floor than it had expected.

"Uh, Butterfree, return," said Alex as Shrew covered his face again. Butterfree's wings were beating slightly and its head was embedded in the ground when the pokéball zapped it back inside.

"Charmander, I choose you!" He threw the last pokéball. "C'mon Charmander, Flame-thrower!"

"Char char!" the cheerful pokémon said. It launched a wave of fire at Abra, "CHAR!"

Abra deftly sidestepped out of the way of the first stream of molten rock and teleported out of the way of the second. At the third blast, he pulled his switching maneuver but Charmander had closed to near point-blank range and slashed his fiery tail out at Abra just before the flame-thrower blast hit him. Being a fire pokémon, he was only marginally affected.

Abra reeled from the burn mark on its cheek and teleported across the room.

"Charmander, Rage!" yelled Alex.

Charmander's flame on his tail grew, then doubled in size. His eyes grew red and he began to slash, flame, and kick...all sorts of attacks against Abra.

Abra teleported time and again, sometimes switching places with Charmander but the fire-lizard was only marginally affected by its own attacks and it just became even more furious and powerful. Finally, Charmander's Rage grew to higher levels and he launched a huge flame-thrower blast that nearly fried Abra and Sabrina at the same time, had both not teleported out of the way.

Sabrina's eyes narrowed and their glow intensified. "Abra," she said in that strange, ethereal voice, "Teleport...now."

Abra teleported and switched places with Charmander just as the blast nearly fried *Alex*. He quickly dived out of the way and Charmander's blast almost did him in. That was the damage portion. The force of his flame-thrower was enough that he was pitched off of his feet and thrown off the field.

Sabrina's eyes lost their glow. "You lose. Your Charmander has left the ring and has been disqualified."

The doll beside Sabrina giggled and held up her head. "That means you have to play with me!" Abruptly her eyes glowed a bright white and one of Alex's spare pokéballs dropped from his belt, transformed into a small beanbag sack.

He stared at the former pokéball and noticed Sabrina's gaze focused on him.

"This could be bad..."

Suddenly the air before him shimmered and the jogger from before materialized in front of Alex. "I warned you to be careful but you didn't listen. Teleportation!"

The next thing Alex knew was that he was lying outside of the gym with Charmander and Shrew on the ground beside him. He looked around and found his bike and climbed on after recalling Charmander. As he began biking away from the city he decided that he didn't want to stay in the place for any longer than he had too.

Suddenly he heard a childish giggle behind him and he saw Sabrina's doll floating after him. Her eyes were starting to glow white.

He began pedaling as fast as he could but the doll floated after him. Try as he might he wasn't able to escape it until he reached the Saffron City Arch, the edge of the city. As he crossed it and looked back, the doll had disappeared.

Alex and Shrew leaned against a tree, tired and terribly frightened by their experience. As they looked up into the sky Alex wondered if he really could make it as a trainer.

**o O o O o**

As Alex arrived in the *second* biggest city he'd ever seen, he reconsidered his opinions. He could be a great trainer, and even if he couldn't...

He swept an arm out and looked down at Shrew, "Hop Hop Hop Town, Home of the Breeder's Lane."

Shrew looked at him quizzically. "Shrew, shrew shrew?"

Alex shrugged and pointed at the map, "That's what it's called. C'mon, let's go look around."

They walked around for a while and eventually came across a large street with pokémon centers everywhere. A large majority of them were Breeding Saloon's while the other parts were food centers. Shrew immediately bee-lined for one of the restaurants.

And Alex dutifully followed.

As Shrew and the rest of Alex's pokémon read the menus in the "PokéJaunt Restaurant" Alex found himself reading some of the advertisements on the wall.

" 'Pokémon Expo coming to the Hoppitiest Town in the world, Hop Hop Hop Town.' Hey! 'Win Free Pokémon!' or 'Win Money!' Should we do it Shrew? Shrew?"

Alex looked over at Shrew but the ground-shrew was engrossed in his menu. Alex picked up his menu and began to read it.

**o O o O o**

Later that day, Alex and the rest of his friends were in Hop Town's field, skimming the grasses. He looked around, "Do you see any pokémon, Shrew? Charmander? Pidgeotto? Gyarados? Butterfree?"

All the pokémon shook their heads. Then Gyarados, being the tallest, suddenly jerked his head up and growled. A smaller, barely audible growl answered him and Alex swung Dexter's infrared eye in line.

—_Scyther, a flying/bug pokémon. This pokémon is fast on its feet and has razor sharp claws, not too much unlike a praying mantis. Because of the agile and fierce nature of this pokémon, many have considered it a fighting type. Scyther is one of two pokémon that aren't colorblind and become enraged by the color red—_

Alex pocketed the pokédex. "A Scyther, huh? Go Butterfree! It's flying bug against flying bug!"

"Free!" the butterfly-pokémon screeched as it flew forth.

"Butterfree, Tackle attack!"

Butterfree launched itself at Scyther, but the green mantis-bug wove its blades in a hypnotic weave and then Slashed at it. Butterfree was launched back along its path.

Alex grimly smiled. This wild pokémon was much more of a challenge than most trainers'. "Butterfree, Sleep Powder!"

"Free!" The butterfly launched waves of golden dust over to Scyther's area but the green bug suddenly appeared forward and slightly to the left, then a third image appeared to the right and even farther ahead. It dodged through the powder and slashed in at Butterfree, knocking him end over end and into the ground.

Alex winced and brought out his pokédex.

—_Agility. Any pokémon equipped with this attack increases its speed exponentially and a few pokémon even appear to be in multiple places at once. A more powerful version of this attack would be the Double-Team attack—_

Alex called Butterfree back into hi pokéball and motioned Charmander forward,

"Go get it Charmander!"

Charmander rushed in at the Scyther but the flying bug jumped aside and zipped off into the distance. Alex lowered his head in defeat. "Aw, that Scyther would have been useful.

They all turned around and traveled away from the scene when suddenly Charmander let out a great cry and sailed into the back of Gyarados's head.

"SCYYYYYYYYY-THER!"

Alex turned around and saw a slightly smaller Scyther standing back where he'd whacked Charmander upside the head. "Yes! Charmander, here's another chance!"

Charmander was slumped next to Gyarados with spirals in his eyes.

Alex face-faulted, "Go Gyarados!"

The towering dragon roared at the small Scyther but it immediately rushed in and Slashed its claws at Gyarados. Gyarados drew his head back in surprise and a bit of pain.

"Gyarados, Dragon Rage!"

Gyarados began to spin around in a display that rivaled Scyther's Agility appearance and huge divots of grass and dirt flew up into the air into a huge tornado. The funnel smacked into the small green bug as it tried flying away and it became sucked into the funnel and was thrown out near Alex's feet.

Alex pulled out a pokéball and dropped it onto the Scyther, "Pokéball! Um, go?"

The ball opened up and Scyther was sucked into it. The rest of Alex's pokémon surrounded the ball as the struggle-indicator lit and the ball hopped around fiercely.

Suddenly the pokéball popped back open but Alex's pokémon were quick and they all pounced on the emerging form.

As the dusted cleared Alex threw the pokéball again and he was chagrinned to find all the attacking pokémon but Gyarados present. He snatched up the ball and hit the release button, then dropped it onto the comatose Scyther again. "Sorry Gyarados."

The water pokémon nodded sagely and turned back to the wobbly ball. Eventually it desisted its struggles and the light went out.

"Yes!" Alex cried, throwing out the victory 'V'. "I caught Scyther!"

**o O o O o**

Alex returned to Hop Town and was able to heal all of his pokémon in time for the Pokémon Expo.

Alex let loose all of his pokémon to enjoy themselves, with the promise to make sure they didn't engage in any fights without him. He kept Shrew and Scyther with him at all times, though. The former because he still couldn't part with his best friend, and the latter because the juvenile was still unused to Alex as a trainer and crowds in general.

Still, Alex was only mildly surprised when everybody chose to stay with him as they meandered towards the crowd.

As they made their way to the "Win A Free Pokémon Booth", Alex had decided that Gyarados, Charmander, and Scyther were very good at clearing away crowds.

He looked over the booth and saw several pokéballs on display. All you had to do was guess which pokémon was in any one of the balls and you won it. The trick was that though the choices were limited to first-stage evolving pokémon you could only choose one ball to pick from and only once. After the first guess you had to pay a fee of $5 dollars and from the look on the keeper's face, many people were guessing more than the free fee allotted.

He turned to his pokémon and they began to confer amongst themselves about the likely identity of any of the pokémon in any of the balls. Finally they reached a consensus and Shrew informed Alex of their choice. He went up to the proprietor and pointed at the far-left pokéball.

"It's a Mankey."

The man scribbled a note down into a notepad he was carrying and asked for Alex's name. Once that was done he assured him that the winners would be announced before curfew time the next night and wished him a good day.

Alex and the others wandered all around, visiting small gaming booths and Alex let his pokémon try some of the games, as they were open to beings of all types.

Scyther had challenged a logger for dicing up a block of wood and had won easily. Alex gave the winning money to Scyther and the bug pokémon flew off after assuring him he'd be back. Alex decided to trust him, as that was an important step in bonding with his pokémon.

Butterfree and Pidgeotto, since they couldn't really do any games, indulged in mock aerial battles with all the other flying pokémon flitting about.

Shrew and Charmander played the more physical games, like tossing rings or balls but failed miserably. They were consoled in the fact that Alex fared no better either but they were still slightly disappointed.

Gyarados went broke on a tear at the strength games. He used his Slam attack to pound a small lead weight up into a bell and it was the loudest bell Alex had ever heard.

For his efforts Gyarados won a small Gyarados Pokédoll and Gyarados let Shrew play with it.

At the end of the day, Scyther came back with seven sticks of sweet rolls, a Scyther Pokédoll, and $3 in change. Alex transferred the money to his pokécard and they all went back to the pokécenter after devouring the sweets and finding Pidgeotto amongst all the chatting Pidgey evolutions.

The pokémon all returned to their pokéballs for the night...except Shrew, of course, and Alex gratefully checked in to his assigned bunk. Shrew took his usual curled up position in Alex's arms and they both stared out the window at the fading Expo Lights.

Alex patted Shrew's ball form, "Did you have fun?"

Shrew gave a contented little sigh and was shortly snoozing. Within minutes Alex followed suit and the peace of the moment stretched into their dreams.

**o O o O o**

Alex woke up the next morning, early as usual, and helped himself to some breakfast before bringing some pokéfood. When he returned to his room, Shrew was already awake and playing with the pokédolls.

Alex silently set the tray next to the bed as "Sandshrew" pulled some very odd maneuvers and trounced on the "Charmander", "Gyarados", "Pikachu", and "Scyther" facing it. As Shrew started using his doll to jump on its opponents Alex clapped politely.

"Yay, woohoo. What a fight."

A startled Shrew looked up at him and blushed. Then he noticed the food tray and began to scarf it down.

Alex released the rest of the pokémon within the room, Gyarados out the window, and set their food trays beside them, whereupon they began to eat with a sudden ferocity that made Alex realize he'd been neglecting them lately.

As they finished up, Alex gave them some time to play around a while outside while he returned the trays and checked out of the Pokécenter. He exited in time to see Pidgeotto, Butterfree, and Scyther racing across the sky while Charmander and Shrew were using Gyarados as a slide. They all stopped and looked towards him and he smiled.

"Wanna go back to the Expo?" he asked.

The nodded jubilantly and set off.

At the second day of the Expo, they toured the gaming centers and booths. This time, Alex was happy to see Scyther sticking with them instead of wandering off. They tried tossing rings around bottles and throwing pokéball-like baseballs at towers of junk but they didn't succeed at winning the prizes, though it was great fun for all.

Butterfree and Scyther teamed up for a bumper car battle against Charmander and Shrew while Gyarados, Pidgeotto, and Alex looked on. Shrew outmaneuvered his car against Scyther's and Alex chuckled as Butterfree slammed his against Charmander. Both pokémon were driven against the wall but they soon got underway again.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry! Win a pokémon battle and win a free evolution stone of your choice! Only $5 per contestant!"

Alex looked over and saw a rather distinguished-looking gentleman with a Ratatta by his side challenging trainers to duels. As he watched, the man's Ratatta made short work of the Staryu facing it with a Super Fang attack.

Alex looked at any of his pokémon to see if any would fight and they all nodded vigorously. He stepped forward, brandishing a five-dollar bill. "I challenge you for a Water Stone!" he yelled.

The man turned towards Alex a waved him forward, "Alright, young man. I accept your challenge. Choose any of your pokémon against my Ratatta or all six against my others."

Alex swept his arm, "I choose all six!"

The man nodded and threw out a pokéball, "Alright, here we go! Weepinbell, go!"

Alex waved his pokémon over, "Charmander, I choose you!"

The man took a cane from his side and pointed it at the fire-lizard, "Weepinbell, Stun Spore!"

"Charmander, Flame-thrower!"

Charmander opened his mouth and released waves of flames that cut through the golden powder Weepinbell had released. The flames scorched the top of the pitcher plant's head but caused no serious damage. Charmander followed up with a Slash that countered the Gentleman's orders for a Vine Whip. Charmander finished it off with a Fire Spin that left Weepinbell dusted.

"Weepinbell return!" called the man. "Go, Squirtle!"

"Squirtle!" yelled the tiny turtle. Alex pulled out his pokédex.

—_Squirtle, the tiny turtle pokémon. Squirtle has a hard shell that protects it from many attacks. Its powerful water-type attacks are enough to put most fire-types out of commission—_

"Uh oh," Alex commented. "Charmander return!" He waved Pidgeotto forward,

"Pidgeotto go!"

As Charmander rushed back to watch Pidgeotto flew forth as Alex swept his arm out at the Squirtle, "Pidgeotto, Gust Attack!"

Pidgeotto fanned the air with its wings and created a powerful dust storm that nearly swept the Squirtle off of its feet.

"Squirtle, Skull Bash now!"

Squirtle charge at Pidgeotto and withdrew its limbs within its body as it flew towards Pidgeotto. As the bird tried to follow up with a tackle attack Squirtle's head protruded out at the moment of impact with Pidgeotto, launching the bird back and to the ground.

"Pidgeotto, return!" called Alex. "Go, Scyther!"

"Scyiyi!" yelled the green bug.

Squirtle began to charge Scyther and withdrew itself into its shell again.

"Scyther, Agility now!"

Scyther ran up to the Squirtle and was suddenly behind it as the Squirtle popped its head out of its shell. As Squirtle turned around Scyther brought his claws together in a powerful chopping motion, creating deep scores into both sides of the Squirtle shell.

"Scyther, Sword's Dance and then use the Fury Attack!"

"Squirtle, Water Gun!"

Scyther flashed his claws in a graceful weave and began to Slash and jab at Squirtle. The turtle back-pedaled and launched a powerful wave of water at Scyther, knocking it off of its feet. Scyther launched another set of Slashes at Squirtle and the turtle nearly had its head chopped off.

"Squirtle, return!" yelled the man. "Go, Ratatta!"

The purple rat ran out onto the field, cheeping its challenge. Scyther laughed and kicked the small rat.

"Ratatta," yelled the Gentleman, "Hyper Fang attack now!"

Ratatta got back onto its feet and launched itself at Scyther. The bug pokémon dodged out of the way but Ratatta managed to clamp onto his wing and held his teeth there. Scyther roared in pain and tried dislodging the rat.

Alex held a hand and waved Scyther back. But the Ratatta wouldn't let go so Alex used a pokéball to zap Scyther from its clutches and let him out again. "Butterfree!"

Butterfree zipped forth and awaited his next commands.

"Butterfree, Stun Spores!"

"Ratatta, Bite!"

Butterfree flew out of the way of Ratatta's powerful jump and released a cloud of spores, which froze Ratatta in place. The man recalled his Ratatta and sent out Growlithe.

"Growlithe, Flame-thrower!" he yelled.

Growlithe let loose a huge blast, which nearly fried Butterfree to a crisp. As it was the bug fell out of the sky cooked to about medium-rare.

Alex grimly smiled, "Gyarados, go!"

The giant pokémon bellowed a challenge and flew over to the stadium floor.

"Gyarados, Hydro Pump!"

The large water snake spewed forth huge waves of water that completely knocked the Growlithe off of its feet. The man sent out Ratatta again.

"Hey!" Alex protested, "Once you send a pokémon out in battle you can't use them again! It's the League Rules!"

The man waved a finger, "That only refers to the using the *exact* same pokémon. Ratatta, now!"

Ratatta began to glow with a large white fire that burned off all of the Stun Spores on it. It started to grow and to get fatter, its whiskers elongating. "Raticate!" yelled the new pokémon.

"Raticate, Super Fang!" called the man.

Raticate launched itself straight at Gyarados and sank its teeth into the tail

Gyarados used to deflect the attack. Gyarados didn't seem to be much affected and it slammed its tail against the ground multiple times, knocking Raticate senseless.

The victory bell rang. The battle was over and Shrew looked a bit disappointed that it didn't get the chance to battle. Alex patted him on the head, "Don't worry. You'll get other chances."

The Gentleman came over and handed Alex a small package containing the water stone. "Here you are, Young Man. It was an honor to lose to you fairly."

Alex nodded, "Same here. In reverse of course," he added, chagrinned at his words.

**o O o O o**

Alex spent most of the rest of the festival outside the borders, healing Scyther, Pidgeotto, and Butterfree and letting them play freely in the open spaces of the Hop Town Park.

Finally it was time to go back to the festival to hear the winners of the various guessing games at the Expo. Alex hurriedly gathered his friends up and they walked back to the outskirts of the crowd.

Multiple pokéballs were handed out to the winners of the "Guess the Pokémon's Weight" contest and then to the winner of the "Who's that Pokémon Silhouette" contest.

Alex leaned forward as they began to announce the winners of the "Who's Who in the Pokéball Contest."

The winning pokémon ended up being a Vulpix, a Pikachu, a Machop, a Doduo, a Paras, and an Oddish. Alex had lost but he really didn't care. The lucky ones who matched pokémon with the proper pokéball won the pokémon inside. Runner-ups included people who guessed the proper pokémon but the wrong ball and they received a coupon for free bikes at the Cerulean Bike Shop.

One of the runner-ups walked up to the announcer to receive her prize and Alex gasped in shock. He quickly motioned towards the girl and turned to his pokémon, "Is that who I think it is?"

All the pokémon voiced their opinions happily except for Scyther, who had no idea of what was going on.

Alex ran around the crowd to watch as the girl exited and walked off towards the Pokécenter. She noticed his footsteps behind her and spun around. She gave Alex and his pokémon a questioning glance, "Can I help you?"

Alex halted in his tracks, "It's me, Misty, Alex."

She cocked her head at him but no recognition showed up in her eyes. "Who?"

Alex face-faulted as Shrew walked up and tugged on Misty's socks. "Shrew? Sandshrew?"

Misty glanced down at the forlorn pokémon, "I'm sorry but I *don't* know who you are."

"Wait!" Alex exclaimed. "If you don't know Shrew how can you understand him?"

Misty paused for a moment and wailed, "I don't know! I have this huge blank in my memory and the doctors told me I'd had an accident. So if you have any sense of decency why don't you just leave me alone! I don't know you and I don't _want _to know you!"

She began to storm off when Shrew suddenly got an idea and started rummaging through Alex's backpack. He emerged carrying the Pikachu Pokédoll and ran after Misty, waving it. "Shrew! Shrew!"

Misty turned around and saw Shrew holding the stuffed Pikachu. Shrew started a pantomime of the events at the Vermilion Pokécenter and suddenly her hand went to her mouth in shock...and remembrance.

"Alex?"

**o O o O o**

At the Pokécenter the two exchanged stories about what had happened to them since Vermilion. Misty was very upset at the loss of Pikachu.

"I'm gonna miss that cute guy," she said. "I don't know if I'll ever see him again." She brushed a small tear off of her cheek, then suddenly and without warning she smacked Alex upside the head with her fan.

Alex rubbed his head, "Hey, what was that for?"

She whapped him again, "That's for ditching me and giving away Pikachu!"

He waved his hands in apology, "Okay, okay! I'm sorry. Gosh you don't have to get so emotional about it." He ducked to avoid a third fan-swipe.

Suddenly there was somebody sharply clapping their hands together. They both turned to see Nurse Joy standing there.

"You two should be asleep. It's way past your bedtime," Joy said is she flicked off the lights. She walked off and they could hear her at the next room complaining.

Alex pulled the covers over Shrew and him while Misty settled down in the bunk across the room. Minutes later they both were asleep.

**o O o O o**

When Misty woke up the next day, she heard absolutely nothing. She looked over the entire room's trainer's bunks and every single one of them was empty. Including, she fumed, Alex's.

She hopped out of bed and quickly smoothed out the week-old clothes she was wearing, muttering about not having any clean clothes. After she hastily checked out of the Pokécenter, she tore down the path that was supposedly headed for Fuschia City.

After about half an hour of jogging she finally saw Alex up ahead and she readied her fan. She quietly walked up to him just as Shrew noticed something and spun around,

"Shrew?"

Alex glanced down at Shrew and spun around to receive a whapping from Misty.

He covered the large welt on his face with a hiss. "What was that for?"

Misty thwapped him again, "Stop ditching me all the time! You were leaving me behind to go to Fuschia, weren't you?"

Alex rubbed his head, "Well, I _might_ have..." he cautiously said. He slumped his shoulders in defeat, "Fine. You wanna come?"

Misty shrugged, "Sure. Just don't ditch me again or I'll really clock you the next time I see you."

They walked down the road to Fuschia and Alex showed Misty the water stone he'd won from the Gentleman back at Hop Town. Misty all but swiped it from his hand,

"Wow! A water stone!"

She pulled out a pokéball and chucked it out, "Staryu, GO!"

"He-yah!" the starfish called. Misty quickly ran over to the pokémon with the water stone firmly grasped in her hand.

Alex ran after her, "Wait, Misty! That's _my _water stone! I never said you could—"

He stopped as Staryu began to evolve. The starfish grew larger and more points appeared, doubling the number of arms it had. The core of its body enlarged and became more crystal-like and the overall color changed.

"Houuu..." the new pokémon said. Alex brought out Dexter.

—_Starmie, the evolved form of Staryu. This beautiful pokémon has a rare gem-like core at the center of its body that is prized by many. Its ten appendages are very sharp and hard and are invaluable to the pokémon's Spinning Tackle attack. Also, Starmie can use multiple appendages for a very powerful Water Gun or Hydro Pump, or can use one at a time for sustained Water Guns. This pokémon also demonstrates a minor psychic ability, as it has the ability to levitate itself and it is as fast on land as it is in water—_

Misty hugged her new pokémon, "Oh you're the most beautiful pokémon I've ever seen!" she cried.

Alex looked over to where the water stone lay; the stone turned an ugly black and began to smoke ever so slightly. It was useless now. He picked up his backpack, "C'mon. We have to continue on to Fuschia City."

Misty recalled Starmie and they headed off down to Fuschia again.

**o O o O o**

About a week later Alex and Misty were running from the rain when they spotted a huge mansion-like place. They ran towards it with Shrew running nearly for its life.

"Wow," remarked Alex as they entered. "This is a big place."

"Yeah," moaned a tired Misty. "But I'm so tired from all that running. I think I'm just going to take a quick nap here." She walked off into a dark corner and threw her sleeping bag out onto the floor.

"I'm just gonna go exploring a bit," Alex said. He walked away as Misty began to snooze softly.

As he wandered around the huge house, he heard muted whispers like the ones you hear at a symphony before the show starts. He turned a corner and saw a huge crowd sitting before a large stage with the words "Imité House" above it.

He quickly took a seat as a comically dressed girl entered the stage. She had green hair that was pulled into two ponytails on each side of her head and she was wearing a large, orange suit with red stars all over it. "Greetings!" she said to the crowd. "Welcome to the House of Imité!"

The crowd cheered and she calmed them down, smiling. "I'm Duplica and this is my magical assistant pokémon, Ditto!"

The audience roared again while Alex pulled out Dexter.

—_Ditto, a transform pokémon. Not much is known about this pokémon except it has the ability to rearrange its cellular structure to imitate any known pokémon. Added: Ditto can also change into inanimate objects, if those are what weak Ditto see—_

Alex's mind clicked. "Oh yeah, that guy back at Pokémon Tech had a Ditto. This'll be great!" He turned his attention back to the stage just as Duplica was finishing up several imitations of pokémon and was calling Ditto to the spotlight.

"Will the Machoke in the front row please come up to the stage?" she asked.

The burly pokémon walked up to the stage and Ditto sized it up.

"Alright, Ditto," said Duplica, "Transform!"

"Ditto!" The pink blob began to glow and soon transformed into an exact replica of Machoke.

"Amazing," whispered Alex. Then he looked closer and saw that Ditto had retained its original face. He face-faulted with everybody else in the crowd.

"That's a funny looking face!" one of the audience cried.

Duplica waved her hands in dismissal. "Thank you Machoke. Now how about that Voltorb over there?"

A giant pokéball rolled up to the stage and Ditto performed its Transform attack again with no luck. Everything was the same as Voltorb except for the face! Voltorb grew a large sweat drop at its "mirror image" as the audience roared in anger.

Shrew covered his ears as the accusations began to pour out.

"What happened to its face?"

"This is the worst show ever!" another man yelled.

"We want our money back!" said a third.

Duplica ran out back onto the stage. "Please, please!" she cried. "The face is just...so you can tell them apart!" she said without results.

"That's the stupidest Ditto I've ever seen!" another man cried out.

Ditto/Voltorb couldn't take the heat any longer and it used its Explosion attack to knock out half of the crowd, including Alex and Shrew.

"Oh dear, oh dear!" Alex heard Duplica wail before the darkness overcame him, "What have I done?"

**o O o O o**

Alex woke up in the Pokécenter down in Fuschia City and the first thing he saw was Misty gazing down into his face, a worried expression there. "Misty, what are you doing here?"

Misty's head suddenly jerked which told Alex that she was actually staring off into space, thinking of something. Her eyes grew hard in an instant, "Just showing you where you should be when somebody is injured!" She made like she was going to smack him with her fan but Joy came in.

"Young lady, that will not help his condition," Joy said. She turned to Alex, "Don't worry, you'll be fine. You were just injured and slightly concussed by a Voltorb's Explosion. You'll be fine later in the day and you can probably check out of the center tomorrow."

Alex tried to bolt up into a sitting position but he was just too comfortable. He looked around, "Where's Shrew?"

Joy set a small pokémon tray beside Alex's bed. "Don't worry, all your pokémon are healed." She walked away to check on her next patients from the Imité House.

Alex succeeded in sitting up and he frantically tried reaching the pokéball with Shrew inside of it.

"What's wrong Alex?" Misty asked.

"Shrew! He hates being in a pokéball!" he wailed. He pointed to the appropriate pokéball and pleaded to Misty, "Get him out!"

Misty gave a small sigh and picked up the indicated pokéball. She opened it up and Shrew abruptly shot out and began to Scratch her face.

Misty gave a small noise of protest before she bent down and tried to strangle the little pokémon. "Why did you scratch me all up you ungrateful little shrew!"

Alex tried calming Misty down, "Please, he hates being confined in a pokéball and he must have thought you were the one who locked him in there."

"Well," Misty scratched her head, "I sorta...did."

Alex face-faulted but managed to keep an arm holding Shrew back from attacking Misty again.

**o O o O o**

The next day, Alex grudgingly woke up Misty before checking out from the Pokécenter. They walked along several paths looking for the fabled Fuschia Gym, an isolated place far from the city complex. As the walked down to an intersection, Alex and Misty consulted the maps and voiced their opinions.

"I think it's that way!" they each said, pointing in different directions. They both face-faulted while Shrew scratched his head and chose a path.

Alex noticed the disappearance of his pokémon. "I'm going where Shrew is, you can go your way," he said in a huff. "Shrew has a better sense of direction than either of us."

"Fine," said an unrepentant Misty. She turned and followed Alex and he smirked before her back.

After half an hour of walking it was obvious to both that the other person was tired but neither wanted to admit it. Suddenly, Alex gave a small grunt and collapsed onto the ground. Misty was next to him in a flash.

"What happened?"

Alex sat up and pointed to something down the path, "A wall. There's a wall over there."

Misty looked dubious, "What wall? Alex, there's nothing there."

"I'm telling you, there was a wall!" insisted Alex.

Shrew nodded in agreement.

Misty straightened up and headed down the path, calling over her shoulder, "If you're tired, Alex, why don't you just say so? You don't have to make excuses all the—AH!"

Alex watched as Misty reeled from an invisible impact and flopped down. "Misty, you don't have to make up excuses for being stupid," he said sarcastically.

She turned to glare at him and pressed her hands against the invisible barrier. "I don't know where this ends," she said.

Alex turned to Shrew, "C'mon Shrew, Dig us a hole beneath that barrier!"

Shrew nodded his head and immediately dived into the ground, leaving a large mound of dirt.

Misty was uncertain, "Are you sure you want to go down into that dirty hole?" she asked.

Alex shrugged but kept his eyes on the other side of the barrier. "Shrew and I have done this before," he explained. "It's not really that bad." He glanced over at Misty and it was obvious the girl didn't believe him.

The seconds stretched into minutes and the minutes stretched into...more minutes. Finally Shrew popped out of the hole he'd made and shook his head, "Shrew..."

Alex snapped his fingers, "Rats."

"What's wrong?" asked Misty.

Alex pointed at the hole, "That barrier stretches into the ground for a long way, if it took Shrew this long to figure it out, it would take days to traverse it."

Misty got up and began walking the path back to Fuschia, "I'm going to go for help and to maybe find an alternate route. You stay here until I get back," she said.

Alex stared until she disappeared from view. "Yes ma'am," he muttered. He thought for a moment and snapped his fingers again, "I've got it!"

Shrew looked at him as Alex released Gyarados.

Alex pointed at the Barrier, "Gyarados, Hyper Beam it!"

The large dragon cocked his head and fired a blindingly fast energy beam at the Barrier and chewed a neat little hole through it.

Alex looked at the hole, then shook his head. "We need something bigger than a pinky-sized one. Again, Gyarados!"

Gyarados panted for a while before it regained its energy and launched another beam. Then he Slammed into the two holes he'd created, cracking open a small rift between them.

Alex released Charmander and both he and Gyarados worked between making little holes in the Barrier and cracking them open. At last a large, ragged opening took form and Alex jumped through. He recalled Gyarados and Charmander while Shrew carried his backpack over.

They headed down the path and eventually came upon a small clearing. Alex looked around at the waterfall, the small pond, and the surrounding grove and sighed with content. "This place is beautiful," he said.

"Venonat!" agreed a nearby pokémon.

Alex spun around and pulled out Dexter, "What the-"

—_Venonat, a poison-bug pokémon. This pokémon is often been rumored to be a psychic-type as well because of its powerful psychic attacks but its poisonous nature is predominant. Venonat evolves into Venomoth, a more powerful moth-like pokémon—_

Alex pocketed Dexter and brought out a pokéball. "Alright, Venonat, you're mine! Shrew, go!"

Shrew ran forward at the purple bug but it dodged to the side and ran off into the trees.

Shrew and Alex followed it in, "Get it Shrew! We're not likely to find many more pokémon here!"

They ran around bushes, past large trees, and over small streams when the Venonat abruptly vanished. Alex looked around and suddenly came face to face with a huge, ancient looking structure.

Shrew pawed around and headed for the building's entrance and Alex followed.

"Wow, what a place," he remarked.

"Venonat!"

He glanced ahead and saw the bug zipping off down the corridor, Alex ran after it and then slammed into something. "Ow! What the..." He tapped on the glass and was relieved it was a bit weaker than the Barrier they'd encountered earlier. "Gyarados, Go!"

Gyarados emerged from his pokéball and roared in frustration at the cramped spaces.

"Sorry buddy," Alex said. He pointed down the corridor, "You're Mr. Pathfinder now, break through any barriers in the way with your Tackle attack!"

Gyarados launched himself forward and slammed through multiple walls of glass and weak plastic until they came to a dead end. Gyarados stopped in confusion and Alex sprayed a potion over him to heal the small cuts and nicks in his hard hide. After that Gyarados retreated into the pokéball.

Alex looked around for any signs of an exit or any traps, when Shrew disappeared. He looked anxiously around, "Shrew? Shrew!"

"Shrew..." a faint voice called.

Alex turned towards a wall and saw it swaying slightly. He pressed his hand against it and suddenly the pressure he exerted pushed the wall back and he fell through.

Shrew squirmed his way from underneath Alex's prone body while Alex took in his surroundings. It was a small room with no decorations and only walls to see.

Suddenly a Voltorb rolled into the room.

"Vol...torb!" said the super-sized pokéball as it exploded.

Alex covered his eyes as smoke burst forth and blinked as a man was suddenly within their midst. "Who are you?" Alex queried.

The man, dressed in a blue jumpsuit with a red sash bowed slightly, "I am Koga, leader of the Fuschia Gym. I commend you on your ability to reach this place."

Alex grinned, "I've been looking for this place so I could get myself a badge!" He straightened to his full height. "I am Alex Gedum and I challenge you for a Soul Badge!"

**o O o O o**

They stood in a large field behind the ancient structure and Koga had taken a slightly meditating form. "This will be a two on two pokémon battle, no time limit. Do you accept?"

"I accept!" called out Alex.

Koga smirked and tossed out a pokéball, "Go then, Venonat!"

Alex knew that bug's against poison didn't do all that well, so it left him with an obvious choice, "Go Shrew!"

"Dew!" cried the pokémon challengingly.

"Venonat, Psybeam!" called Koga.

"Shrew, Dig!"

Venonat launched a beam of scintillating light out at Shrew but the ground pokémon dived into the ground before the beam reached him. Seconds later, Venonat found itself launched into the air, assisted to that accomplishment by Shrew's fist.

"Shrew, Earthquake!" yelled Alex.

Shrew dived into the ground again and soon the ground began to rock and shake, throwing the already off-balanced Venonat from side to side. As Venonat lay trembling on the ground, Shrew finished it off by shooting for the sky, rolling up, and ground-pounding the unfortunate purple furball.

Koga grimaced and pulled out his pokéball, "Venonat, return!" He pulled out another ball and threw it, "Zubat, go!"

Alex smirked, "No problem. Shrew, Spinning Tackle!"

Shrew jumped at the Zubat and succeeded in slamming it head-on from the air.

Zubat regained its flight-beat and met Shrew's next attack by diving at it.

Koga resumed his half-meditating position, "Zubat, Leech-Life."

As Shrew jumped into the air for another Spinning Tackle, Zubat sideslipped to one side and sank its fangs into Shrew's back. The quick drain hurt Shrew significantly and Zubat seemed to recover some of its energy.

Koga clasped his hands together, "Zubat, evolve."

Zubat began to glow with an inner light as its wings grew larger, its body elongated, and its "tail" lengthened and thickened. "Gol-bat, gol-bat," said the pokémon.

—_Golbat, the evolved form of Zubat— _Dexter said. _—Golbat's fangs secrete powerful venom that can drain half of its victim's life source if gone unchecked—_

Koga's eyes opened and revealed a hint of a smirk to Alex. "Golbat, Wing Attack."

"Gol-bat," the giant bat said as it dived at Shrew. Shrew swiped the air with his claws but Golbat was too fast and Shrew received several good whacks on his head.

"Shrew, Fury Swipes!" cried Alex.

"Dew!" yelled Shrew as his slashing increased in speed until it appeared that a metallic shield surrounded Shrew. Golbat dived in for another Wing Attack but was nicked several times and rebounded from the slashing claws.

"Golbat, Screech attack," Koga calmly said. Golbat paused in mid-flight and let out a hypersonic shriek that made Shrew and Alex clamp their hands onto their ears.

Koga simply smiled at the noise and used Shrew's momentary delinquency to order Golbat into another Leech-Life. Golbat sank its fangs into Shrew and almost immediately Shrew keeled over, its life force almost totally drained.

Alex growled and threw out his second pokémon, "Scyther, I choose you!"

Scyther yelled in challenge at the flying bat and considered his moves.

"Scyther, Agility and then Fury Attack!"

Golbat zoomed in for the kill when Scyther suddenly appeared in a different spot than Golbat had targeted. It shifted its flight direction when Scyther suddenly appeared above and behind the bat and Slashed a claw through one of Golbat's wings.

The flying pokémon became flightless and Scyther proceeded to jab its claws into Golbat's back multiple times. Golbat's back became a scratched up mess and it was out of the fight.

After Alex had recalled Scyther and administered a Revive potion to Shrew, he straightened as Koga and a young woman approached.

"It is good to see how you tend to your pokémon before you ask for your badge," Koga said. He gestured to the woman, "This is Aiya, my sister. She has trained here for many years and is an able Pokémon Ninja Master."

Aiya bowed to Alex and held out her hand. Upon her palm was a small, pink heart icon split down the middle. "Your display of affection towards your pokémon shows you have a good soul," she said. "Thus, the Soul Badge is now yours."

Alex bowed back and took the badge from her palm. "Thank you," he said. He scratched his head, "Neither of you would happen to know how to get out of here, would you?"

Koga and Aiya face-faulted while a giant sweat-drop appeared on Shrew's head.

**o O o O o**

Later Alex was sitting by the other side of the large barrier he and Misty had run across of earlier that day. He decided to break camp there when suddenly Misty ran up with Officer Jenny behind her.

"Alex, how long have you been waiting there?" Misty asked, clearly perplexed. "I assumed you would have gotten bored and wandered off."

Alex and Shrew exchanged winks, "Oh, there was nothing better to do so we just stuck around here for the whole time..." he said, casually pulling aside a length of his overshirt to reveal his fifth badge.

**o O o O o**

"Welcome to the Safari Zone!" called a rotund guide.

Alex and Misty were seated in a large touring cart that drove through the plains of the famed Fuschia Safari Zone. Alex had covered the cost of the tour, as usual while Misty had snatched a pair of binoculars in order to peek at the far lakes and ponds that occasionally dotted the region.

"At this time we would ask that you keep all your pokémon in their pokéballs or with you at all times," continued the guide. "Pokémon battles are not permitted on the Safari Zone but we will let you out of the carts at intervals to try your luck with any pokémon you may find. But you may only use these special Safari Balls," he said, holding up a green pokéball with a stenciled "S" on it.

Alex yawned and looked over at Misty, who was peering intently at a passing lake with several Magikarp and Psyduck paddling about. She gave a shudder, "Those pokémon are the dopiest things I have ever seen!" she said in disgust. Alex turned back to listen to the droning guide.

"And now, let us turn our attention to our right and watch a herd of these Kangaskan. These marsupial-like pokémon have pouches for which their young may be carried around in. It is very rare to find an adult pokémon of this species without a juvenile Kangaskan in its pouch, so catching one is like catching two!

"Now we turn our attention to the left where it would appear that a large swarm of Scyther and Pinsir are warring against each other...again..._Call Security!_"

Alex looked over as several bright colored jeeps zoomed over to the scene and worked to contain the two fighting species. Eventually they separated and went in different directions as the tired security forces drove back to the main complex.

The guide chuckled, "Well you don't see that everyday, folks," he said lightly. "Now we will stop for a ten minute break period so you can capture some pokémon. Each of you will be issued ten safari balls for this trip. You can use them later, so don't feel you have to go into a frenzy."

When the caravan stopped, Alex hopped out and received his safari balls from a stewardess and hiked out over a hill. On top there were several grazing Tauros, a few Nidoran, and a Paras here and there. Alex turned around to look for more promising pokémon when she saw Misty staring at the lake again. Alex trudged up to her, "What did you find?"

Misty wordlessly pointed at the surface and Alex squinted in the reflection. Beneath the water, he could barely make out the forms of elongated water pokémon. They were too small for Gyarados, he thought as he pulled out Dexter.

—_Dratini, the mythical dragon pokémon. This rare pokémon used to be quite common, according to Cinnabar Researchers, but its numbers dwindled down to a few hundred. Rumor has it that they are protected in the Safari Zone, but so far Fuschia Officials have neither confirmed nor denied it. As a result, there is little information on this majestic pokémon—_

Misty clapped her hands together, "Oh! A Dratini, how cute! I have to have it!" She pulled out one of her safari balls and threw it at the graceful creature. Dratini quickly withdrew its head from the water and the safari ball sank to the bottom of the lake. She tried again and again with no avail until she had only two safari balls left.

"You there!" a stern voice yelled.

Alex and Misty turned as the guide came up to them. "You're trying to catch the Dratini?" he asked.

Misty blushed and slowly nodded.

The guide's mouth suddenly burst into a broad grin, "Go on ahead! You can try to capture everything in this park. All the ones we don't want you to catch are in the Off-Limits zone. This Dratini here is a feisty one; it causes trouble with our other pokémon.

We'll be glad to see it go! Let me watch!" he said eagerly as he pulled out a camera.

Misty blushed again and launched another safari ball at the Dratini but it dodged it again. Her last ball was knocked back into her face with a deft Tail Whip by the long pokémon. Misty stormed off in frustration as Alex and the guide laughed.

The guide patted Alex's shoulder. "Ah, my friend. I have seen many trainers attempt to capture this creature and fail. The real reason I bring out the camera," he held up a Polaroid with the image of a safari ball thwapping Misty, "...is for the failures! Ha ha ha ha!"

The guide turned to look at the Dratini as it began to swim off, snapping pictures as it went.

Alex pulled out a safari ball, discreetly, and made sure nobody had noticed. Then he expertly tossed it straight at the Dratini's receding head and the guide made a round oath as his view was blocked.

"Now what could have...OH!"

Alex's safari ball ricocheted off the head of the Dratini and launched itself back at Alex's hands. The ball was pretty much escape proof and Dratini only got a few good wiggles out before the struggle-indicator light went off. Alex extended his arm and the ball victoriously. "Yes!" he crowed, "I got Dratini!"

"Amazing!" the guide said, snapping pictures. "You must be a talented trainer indeed! Nobody has had the skill to capture Dratini!"

Alex jerked a thumb towards Misty's steaming form, "It was her doing as much as mine," he said. "She distracted it."

Misty fumed all the more at her failure.

**o O o O o**

"Now we see the many Nidoran of the Safari Zone. The Nidoran we all have range from the male to female variety, and are much prized by their trainers as personalized pokémon." The guide continued merrily on while Misty anxiously scanned the water for her next chance to capture a Dratini, but no others appeared in the designated capture zones.

Alex poked her and began to juggle the four safari balls he'd been able to use. Misty's obsession with capturing a Dratini had yielded her a hefty load of almost twenty safari balls while Alex used each and every one of his in trying to capture lots of pokémon. Aside from Dratini, he'd also been fortunate enough to capture a Kangaskan, a Ryhorn, and a Tauros. He'd come close to nailing a Pinsir but the horned bug smashed and diced up his safari balls before they'd closed in on it.

"Let us now use our last stop in the Safari Zone excursion to catch as many pokémon as we can, and not just one particular," he said, glowering at Misty.

His words fell on deaf ears. As soon as the carts had stopped Misty hopped out and began charging for the nearest lake. Alex walked a little ways in that direction and looked around.

Shrew peeked out from Alex's backpack and spoke softly, "Shrew?"

Alex patted Shrew's head. "Enjoy your nap?" he asked softly.

Shrew nodded and asked for new friends. Alex brought out the four safari balls and told Shrew he was looking for more. Shrew exclaimed happily and retreated back into the backpack as the guide approached.

Since Shrew wasn't technically allowed to be out in the Zone, Alex had hidden him in the backpack. Shortly afterwards he'd felt the soft vibrations of Shrew curling up and going to sleep, so he'd treated the load with great care.

The warden reached Alex and looked around. "My boy, you're the star of today. Four pokémon including a Dratini!" He nodded in Misty's direction and Alex saw her chucking safari ball after ball into the lake with no apparent success. The guide pointed at a small herd visible in the distance, "There's a group of Nidorino over there, heading for those Nidorina...there," he said, pointing towards another herd. "And there's that swarm of Pinsir again with the swarm of Scyther..._not again!_"

Alex ran after the guide as the man ran towards the swarms, calling for security again. As he reached the battle zone, several security wardens came out of the car accompanied by several Growlithe. As the Growlithe worked on herding the two away from each other, Alex threw a safari ball into the midst of the raging herds and the ball came back empty, spent. Alex launched another ball and this time it came back glowing.

Immediately it popped open and a very frustrated looking Growlithe bounced back into the fight.

Alex pulled out one of his last safari balls and chucked it straight into the huge crowd of Pinsir, it came back with a very bright struggle-indicator lit up. Alex pulled out his *last* safari ball and let it drop just as the depleted ball exploded and the enraged Pinsir emerged. Just as it did the second ball plopped onto its head and it was well and truly captured.

The guide came back and wiped sweat off of his brow he paused as he saw Alex and he forced a grin. "I guess it isn't as rare a sight as I mentioned it was," he said. Then he noticed the full safari ball and his face broke into another grin. "Is this how you always capture, young man? With distractions?" he chuckled. "Good job, I'm glad you enjoyed your stay in the Safari Zone.

**o O o O o**

" 'Enjoyed my stay in the Zone', _enjoy _they say," Misty muttered angrily. She whirled at Alex, "I didn't even get _one _Dratini!" she wailed.

Alex was silent as he looked for a hotel to relax in. Misty was still ranting when he made arrangements to have a room on the far side from wherever she was being placed. The weekend would be relaxing, he told himself and nothing, not even motor-mouth Misty was going to ruin the peaceful sidetrip. Later that evening he made reservations on the next cruise liner for Cinnabar Island. Little did he know that he was about to collide with a destiny from the past.

**o O o O o**

Alex leaned over the side of the boat and watched all the Goldeen and Seaking leaping across the water. As he felt the wind blow by, he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, taking in the salty air.

He glanced over and saw Shrew leaning over the side too, except his complexion was looking a bit green. Alex reached over to slap Shrew's back as the small ground pokémon began to upchuck over the side.

Alex heard footsteps approach him from behind and he spun around. He saw a glimpse a large, white object, and then the giant fan smacked him upside the head. He grabbed his nose and cried out in surprise, "OW!"

Misty pulled back the fan, closed it, and put it away into her satchel. She angrily put her hands on her hips and fumed at Alex. "That's for ditching me again!"

Alex winced and rubbed his head where her fan had hit him. This was getting annoying. "Could you leave me and Shrew alone for _one second?_ The only reason we're not Flying to Cinnabar Island and taking this boat is so we can have some rest and relaxation!"

Misty glanced over at Shrew, who was still chucking over the boat. It was obvious that she didn't want to concede an error so she turned around and just walked off, "Well, next time just don't keep ditching me like that."

Alex sighed at her receding form and picked Shrew up off the railing. "C'mon, Shrew. Let's blow off some steam."

Shrew nodded weakly and hiccuped.

**o O o O o**

"Golem, go!" called the trainer opposite of Alex.

"Go, Dratini!" Alex yelled as he threw his pokéball out.

"Golem!" yelled the enormous boulder.

"Tini!" called out the blue dragon.

Alex closed his pokédex after switching his Butterfree for Dratini's pokéball and threw out his arm. "Dratini, Slam!"

Dratini launched itself at Golem but rebounded off of its hard shell. Golem stomped a foot onto the prone form but Dratini had kicked itself off the floor and landed back near Alex.

"Dratini, Wrap and Bind!" yelled Alex.

"Tini!" the long creature yelled as it wrapped itself around Golem's rock-hard form.

"Golem, Tackle it!" the trainer said.

Golem tried rolling up into a ball but Dratini had it easily secured, binding its arms and legs together that left it unable to budge. Dratini squeezed Golem until the giant pokémon literally rolled over and fainted.

The opposing trainer cocked his hand and let another pokéball fly, "Pidgeotto, go!"

Alex cocked his arm out, "Dratini, Thunder Wave!"

As the flying pokémon burst out from its pokéball, Dratini's undeveloped horn began to crackle and glow. Suddenly large bolts of electricity shot out at Pidgeotto and encased it in a crackling cage.

"Dratini, Slam!" called out Alex again.

Dratini coiled up and launched itself into the air. Pidgeotto had lost some of its altitude when it was paralyzed and Dratini's leap carried it above and over the pokémon. Dratini fell back to the earth but Pidgeotto blocked its way and it Slammed the bird into the ground.

The trainer recalled Pidgeotto and extended his hand out to Alex. "Good job with your dragon. You've beaten my best pokémon; I congratulate you."

"No problem," Alex said. He turned to pick up Shrew but the little pokémon had fainted from the seasickness he'd suffered and was rolling into the walls of the room every time the sea lurched. Alex trotted after the rolling ball and neatly fielded him, then walked out of the battle room.

The sky was darker than when Alex had last seen it and he could see several black clouds in the distance. Not a good sign. Alex hurried over to his stateroom and felt the deck list dangerously beneath his feet. He quickly packed up his things and prepared for the worst, then he stepped outside.

In the short time it had taken him to pack, the dark clouds were directly over the cruise liner and thunder and winds were prevalent. Lightning flashed and rain poured down and the ship was rocked to the side as a huge wave slammed into the port side of the ship. Another wave came from the starboard and rocked the ship back the way it had come.

Alex forced his way through the tide of anxious people running back to their staterooms and finally reached the bow. Somebody suddenly latched on and he turned to politely remove his or her hand when he saw the person's face through the milling crowd.

"Misty?" he asked. "What are you doing out here in the storm?"

Misty had been sunbathing before the sudden storm came upon the boat and she hadn't gone back to her stateroom yet. She crossed her arms over her bikini and muttered angrily, "I couldn't get through that annoying crowd of frightened people! Besides," she added, "a little water never hurt me. I grew up in Cerulean City remember?"

"Yeah," said Alex, his mind slightly elsewhere. "Sure. Why don't you go back to your stateroom and get dressed before anything bad might happen. You may want all your pokémon... not to mention your clothes," he said carefully.

Misty clapped her hands over her mouth, "That's right! My pokémon!" She quickly turned around and bolted through the crowd.

Alex turned to face the bow of the ship and watched the towering waves come within inches of crossing the threshold of the guide rail.

**o O o O o**

The ship's First Officer entered the cabin and snapped a salute to the venerable man sitting in the room's largest chair. He spoke in brisk, precise tones, "Captain, the storm is wreaking havoc with our guidance systems. We have no idea of where we are nor of where we are heading."

The Captain gravelly nodded. "Prepare the lifeboats incase anything unfortunate should happen."

The First Officer nodded and turned to leave when the Captain raised a hand, "Are you sure there is no land near here?"

The First Officer nodded, "Quite sure, sir. The Seafoam Islands are at least 112 nautical miles away and there aren't any other landmasses on the map."

The Captain nodded and the First Officer left. He paused outside of the door, contemplating his decisions, and then went to give his orders to the rest of the crew.

**o O o O o**

Four hours later, the storm raged on and Alex was still at the bow of the ship, looking out into the waves. He heard footsteps behind him and quickly spun around.

Misty stood there, her hands out open to show she wasn't carrying her fan at the moment. She was dressed in her usual attire as she leaned against the railing next to him.

"Kinda difficult to imagine what kinds of pokémon must be down there," she muttered.

Alex nodded, "True, but I wasn't thinking about pokémon."

Misty peered over and waved a hand in front of his eyes, there was no response.

She started to turn and head back to her cabin when Alex finally spoke.

"Wait."

She turned around to face him again but he was squinting off into the distance.

She glanced along his line of sight and saw nothing. "What is it?" she asked.

Alex pointed down the line the ship was travelling and suddenly a shape materialized out from the fog and sheets of rain. A lightning strike backlit the object and it was revealed to be a massive island with numerous crags, coves, and dotted with cave entrances.

The crewman in the Crow's Nest noticed it as well and called down to the bridge of the ship, "Land ho!"

Alex slowly stepped back from the railing. Then he took two more steps back. Then three, four. He began to rapidly walk backwards as Misty trailed him, "We...we're gonna crash," he said. "We're gonna crash!" he repeated as he broke into a sprint back to the aft of the liner.

Misty glanced at the jagged rocks before the ship and realized he was right. She began to run after Alex as a loud voice boomed over the loudspeakers.

"All hands, brace for impact!"

**o O o O o**

Alex woke up against the railing of the aft portion of the liner. As he stretched stiff muscles he noticed that the storm had disappeared and the bright sunlight of late dawn shined down on the beached ship. He looked to the side and saw crew of various rank sprawled against the railing as well and several passengers, including Misty.

In his backpack, Shrew woke up and nursed several bruises on his head. He peeked his head out and gave a happy warble as he realized the deck wasn't moving anymore. When he hopped down onto the deck, though, he sobered as he saw the unconscious people all around.

Alex quietly woke Misty up and told her to wake up the others. Yes, she could wait until her splitting headache was gone. He walked back to the bow of the ship, which had propped itself up an incline as it had beached itself on some very large rocks. He peered over the side and saw the Captain, the First Officer, and several other crewmen from the vessel scouting the terrain.

He found a small rip in the railing that had been propped against the rocks to use as a makeshift plank and he walked down onto the land. One of the officers noticed him and quickly walked over.

"Don't worry, sir," the officer hastily said. "Everything's going to be alright. We'll have you back at your destination in no time."

Alex stared lasers into the officer and the officer recoiled slightly. "I'm not a dopey, dimwitted aristocrat, Ensign," Alex said, reading the man's insignia. "You don't have to baby me around."

"Uh, yes sir," the man stuttered. He quickly walked away, leaving Alex to explore on his own.

"I think the best thing we should do is get everybody off of the ship," he overheard the Captain explain. "There's no telling what kind of damage has been done to the hull and I don't want anybody to die here while I'm in charge."

Alex sat down on a nearby rock and started pitching shells into the water.

**o O o O o**

Hours later, the whole population of crew and passengers were off the ship and into one of the caves. "To protect them from the elements," the Captain explained.

After a while, the crew began to organize scouting parties and Alex went with one of them and Misty followed. They began to search the caverns for any food or other forms of sustenance when loud calls emerged from the darkness ahead.

While some of the passengers clutched each other in fear, the officers, Alex, and Misty remained utterly calm. Alex whipped out Dexter and several images popped up in the graphical screen.

—_Seel, Zubat, Golbat, Krabby, Seadra, and others. These water type pokémon are frequently found in watery caverns and often attack unwanted intruders. Take caution when exploring—_

As if to drive Dexter's point home, a Seadra and a Krabby popped out of the water.

"Seadra!" the dragon pokémon yelled as it spewed a stream of sludge at the scouting party.

Krabby burbled and slammed a claw near the feet of one of the sailors, who retreated back a bit.

The sailors all pulled out pokéballs and tossed out their pokémon to drive away the unwanted guests.

"Go, Krabby!"

"Go Goldeen!"

"Slowpoke!"

"Squirtle!"

Alex picked out one of his pokéballs and threw it, "Go Gyarados!"

Misty tossed out her pokéballs at the same time, "Go Goldeen! Go Staryu! Go Starmie!"

As the multitude of pokémon sprang out to face their challengers, dozens more of wild ones appeared out of the water and a huge pokébattle ensued.

Krabby fought other Krabby with masses of pincher slashes and Crabhammers.

The two Goldeen were remarkable in fighting off several other Goldeen and Seaking.

Starmie and Staryu helped the other pokémon drive off several Horsea and Seadra while Gyarados pounded several Seel flat.

Alex saw the Slowpoke battling with a wild Staryu and reached for a spare pokéball, "Pokéball, GO!"

The pokéball flew out and zapped the unwary Staryu within its clutches. Alex sent out more pokéballs at targets of opportunity and managed to snag a Horsea, a Krabby, a Seel, a Goldeen, and a Zubat that had flown in.

Suddenly, almost all activity ceased as every wild pokémon disappeared. Most of the trained pokémon floundered about in confusion when a sudden, piercing shriek filled the air.

Everybody huddled around at the huge noise and Alex whipped out Dexter, trying to find the source of the noise.

—_A wall. Walls of a cavern are usually made of some form of silicates, a rock—_

Alex softly swore to himself as he aimed the pokédex's infrared eye towards a fast moving shadow that had appeared.

—_A wall. Walls of a ca...—_

Alex closed Dexter and turned to Gyarados. "Gyarados, found out from whatever that noise is coming from!"

Gyarados roared and swam slightly out of site until only his tail was visible from the party's vantage point. The screeching noise echoed again, followed by Gyarados's roar.

Suddenly, Alex gasped in shock as they saw a huge shadow fall over Gyarados and suddenly he froze over. "G...Gyarados?"

The shadow swept across the rocks and boulders and it outlined a large bird-like pokémon. The pokémon came into view, blue and white with eyes as frosty as the Ice Beam it blasted towards the group.

**o O o O o**

Alex shouted in surprise and dived to the side, just as the bird pokémon's Ice Beam passed directly behind him. He felt an explosion and was thrown forward several feet before skidding to a stop on the wet rocks.

He glanced back and was horrified as he saw the rest of the search party completely frozen up, including all of the remaining pokémon. He did a double take as he spotted a frozen block of ice with Misty within and a smaller lump beside her. He quickly glanced over saw the still form inside, Shrew.

The screech echoed throughout the cavern again and he looked up to see the large bird diving straight at him. "Ah, d*****," he swore.

He dived to the side again and rolled, yanking Dexter out of his pocket and aiming its IR eye at the creature as it swooped by.

—_Articuno, one of three Legendary Birds. Articuno is the elemental bird of ice. It has a powerful combination ice and flying attacks and has rarely been seen. No other available data—_

Alex pulled out a pokéball and let it fly, "Ice pokémon are weak against fire! Go Charmander!"

As the orange fire-lizard leapt out of the confining pokéball in a bright flash of light, Articuno circled and let out another Ice Beam from its open beak. Charmander rushed in to meet his opponent but the ground beneath it solidified and the fire pokémon skidded off into the cavern with a wail.

Alex blanched and he called up Dexter's battle menu. He dodged several more Ice Beam attacks as he accessed the Pokémon Limit Protocols and disabled the six-pokémon limit. He ducked behind a rock as another Ice Beam caused weakened rocks to explode around him and frantically transmitted a recall request into his pokédex.

**o O o O o**

In Professor Oak's great storage center, several mechanical arms went into emergency mode and began moving towards the trainer's section of the shelves. One by one they sought out Alex's pokéballs and relocated them into the pokéball transporter system.

As each pokéball dropped into the trough, the transporter slowly hit them with bursts of energy and they glowed an incandescent white before disappearing.

**o O o O o**

Alex swiped the pokéballs off of the pokédex's main screen as they appeared one by one. He grabbed the remaining four pokéballs from his belt and tossed them all out to the ground.

"Go! Pidgeotto, Butterfree, Scyther, Pinsir, Dratini, Tauros, Kangaskan, Ryhorn!" He yelled as he let the balls fly. He grabbed the next several balls that appeared onto the screen and chucked them out as well, "Staryu, Goldeen, Krabby, Zubat, Seel, Horsea, GO!"

The multitude of pokémon stood ready in a long battle line as Alex swept his arm out, "Pokémon, attack!"

All the pokémon leapt into action as Alex jumped to the side to avoid another Ice Beam. Pidgeotto and Butterfree circled the great bird, occasionally rushing in to smack it with a Tackle or a Wing Attack. Scyther and Dratini became blurs as they used Agility to avoid the freezing beams pouring down on them.

The other pokémon didn't fare so well. The water pokémon immediately froze up as one of Articuno's Ice Beams hit the water, freezing everything within it instantly. Tauros, Ryhorn, and Kangaskan were too slow moving or confined and they were nailed with the beams. Zubat was slapped silly as Articuno pecked it mercilessly in between launching its ice attacks.

Alex began to get worried; none of his pokémon were even fazing the great bird. Articuno swooped down for a horizontal attack plane and Ice Beamed ahead of itself.

Pinsir and Scyther suffered the worst and were quickly turned into popsicles that weren't likely to thaw any time soon.

Dratini aimed a Thunderwave at Articuno and let it fly. As the crackling gouts of energy coursed through the air towards the blue bird, Articuno suddenly veered to the side, revealing Butterfree and Pidgeotto trying to attack it from topside. The lightning traveled past Articuno's original point and slashed through the two other flying pokémon.

Butterfree and Pidgeotto found that they had no wing space within the electrical mesh and they plummeted onto the ground, where another Ice Beam froze them both.

That left Dratini and Alex. Abruptly Alex finally realized that dragon pokémon were extremely vulnerable to ice attacks and he prepared to recall Dratini when Articuno suddenly paused.

As Alex looked up at the hovering bird, the temperature suddenly dropped below several degrees below freezing and snowflakes began to lightly fall. Soon, the snowflakes hardened into ice sheets and then hard ice picks that whistled into the ground with several shattering crashes. From his pocket, Dexter's IR eye picked all this up and began verbalizing.

—_Blizzard, a powerful ice-type attack. Blizzard is the most powerful ice attack there is and will often knock out the user's opponents with one felled swoop. There is no escape from Blizzard if you are within several meters from the source's epicenter—_

Alex mentally calculated the distance from Articuno but dismissed it as a futile exercise. He managed to pick up Dratini's frightful howl before the pokémon was encased in ice and then a heavy blanket fell over his eyes as the extreme cold overcame him.

**o O o O o**

A half-hour later, Articuno had left the scene but left behind an ice-covered landscape and multitudes of strange looking statues. A glow began from a corner of the cavern and it slowly intensified as footsteps echoed in the air.

Charmander slowly plodded back into the cavern and gingerly tested the ground to make sure it wasn't too slippery. For good measure, it launched a flame-thrower out over the ground and slowly melted the surrounding ice into water.

Curious about the ice-sculptures, Charmander plodded over to the largest one...and recoiled in shock.

"Char? Char mand der? [Alex? Alex is that you?]" the flame pokémon asked as he poked the glass-like ice.

Alex was frozen with fear and dejection pasted onto his face. Charmander followed his gaze and grew somber as he realized all the statues were Alex's pokémon, defeated in battle and frozen solid.

Charmander cocked his head, and flamed the base of Alex's feet. The ice was extremely cold and it took a while for any appreciable change could be observed. Charmander switched to a Fire Spin and let a firestorm rage around Alex. When it finally died down, ice was dripping down as water and there was only a sliver of a barrier between Alex and the outside world.

Charmander gave the ice a good whack with his tail and it slowly spiderwebbed at the impact point then came down altogether. Alex, free of the hard ice supporting him, collapsed unconscious at a heap next to Charmander's feet. Charmander softly prodded his limp form and gave up, turning to the other pokémon.

He let loose more Fire Spin tornadoes at every pokémon cluster and walked to the other end of the cavern, where he found the rest of the humans and their pokémon, including the ice-forms of Misty and Shrew. One by one he slowly roasted them and eventually they all collapsed into passed out bundles.

Charmander trotted back to Alex and prodded him with a claw. Slowly, finally, Alex moaned softly and stirred. He rolled over onto his back and slowly opened up his eyes. Charmander looked down at Alex and called softly, "Char? [Alex?]"

Alex's eyes searched around wildly, blindly. He quickly sat up and felt the space around him, "Charmander, is that you?"

Charmander muttered sadly and placed a searching hand on top of his rounded head.

"I can't see! I can't see you, Charmander! I can't see anything!"

Several of Alex's other pokémon finally woke up and cried out frighteningly, complaining about a lack of eyesight as well. In Alex's pocket, Dexter had reinitialized its frozen circuitry and piped up.

—_Frozen Solid, a condition resulting from contact with the extreme colds of an ice-type attack. If a victim has been frozen solid for an extended period of time, temporary blindness may set in until the damage to the body is repaired. An Ice Heal or a Full Heal will offset the condition and all resulting symptoms—_

Alex felt around his back area and encountered nothing. "Charmander, I left my backpack somewhere during the battle. I need you to find it!"

"Char char!" Charmander replied. It hopped onto a rock for a better vantage point and located Alex's backpack next to a nest of fallen boulders. He retrieved it and made his way back to Alex, whereupon the trainer began sifting through the articles to find a small kit labeled, "Heals." He held a potion with a Fire emblem out to Charmander, "Is this an Ice Heal?"

Charmander replied a negative.

Alex put the vial away and pulled out another with a giant, "Z." "Is this?"

Charmander replied no.

Alex rummaged around some more and finally pulled out a potion with a blue Ice Pick emblem on it, "Is this?"

Charmander replied enthusiastically as Alex gently sprayed the potion over his face. Alex's eyes went from a pale gray to their usual brown color and he blinked, focusing.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, "I can see again!" Alex pulled out several more Ice Heals and ran over to Shrew, where the little ground pokémon had curled up into a ball out for protection from the unknowns. Alex quietly coaxed him to unroll and sprayed a few droplets into Shrew's eyes. The Sandshrew blinked several times and then hugged Alex.

Alex gingerly smiled and set his friend onto his shoulder as he went from person to person, pokémon to pokémon and healed their eyes.

Finally, everybody was okay and the pokémon trainers were checking their pokémon to find if there was any serious harm done. Luckily, none of the pokémon had really been beaten to the point where they fainted and they quickly made tracks to leave.

As they were exiting another cross section, they heard the trilling screech of Articuno and they all broke into a run. Charmander brought up the rear and sounded the alarm as the giant bird swooped after them. Alex and Shrew dropped back to help his pokémon as the rest of the group ran off with Misty in the lead.

Alex swept his arm out, "Charmander, Fire Spin! We have to stall it, not defeat it!"

"CHAAAAAR!" the enraged pokémon yelled as it let loose four different Fire Spin tornadoes. All four engulfed Articuno and a fifth Fire Spin surrounded it.

Alex, Charmander, and Shrew ran off as the Articuno emerged blindly from the fire storm into a stream of fire from Charmander. They continued running along when Charmander began to glow.

Alex saw this and picked up the incandescent creature as it began to grow, "Not now Charmander! We have to run!"

Shrew ran alongside Alex, "Shrew! Shrew sand dew shrew! [Alex, Charmander's too tired to stop it!]"

Charmander finally stopped glowing but it wasn't the medium-sized orange lizard Alex was carrying. Rather, it was a large red one with a single protruding horn from the back of its head. "Charrrrmeleon!" yelled out the new pokémon.

Alex dropped Charmeleon and the three zoomed out of the caves. Misty and the sailors were waiting for them and the sailors had their pokémon out next to the cavern.

As Alex and the other two pokémon exited, all the pokémon positioned around the entrance threw rocks and pummeled around the opening. A rockslide blocked off the tunnel entrance and they could all hear the frustrated screeches from within. "Arti! Cuno cuno!" yelled the bird. Finally all was quiet and Alex collapsed onto the ground.

Misty walked over, "What kind of pokémon was that?" she asked.

Alex was too tired to speak, too tired to move, and too tired to stay awake; he gave in to exhaustion and fell into a blissful sleep.

**o O o O o**

Three hours before dawn, the next day, Alex's eyes suddenly jerked open and he was completely awake. As he stretched a bit in the predawn light, he found Shrew curled up silently beside him and his belt with all his other sixteen pokéballs digging painfully into his side. He reached around and pulled out Dexter, then reinitialized the Pokémon Limit Protocols. Abruptly eleven of his pokéballs were transported back to Professor

Oak's lab and Alex felt normal again. He quietly got up and packed all his stuff, careful not to wake Shrew. When he finished packing, he gently lowered his friend into the soft linings of his backpack and set off for the caves again.

If the caves during the day were dark, the current level of lighting now was almost nonexistent. Alex fetched a pokéball from his belt and cracked it open, "Charmeleon, go."

Charmeleon burst out and rubbed sleep sand out of his eyes. He yawned and looked around at his surroundings and seemed relieved that there were no opponents to fight.

Alex quietly put a finger to his lips and pointed to his backpack, where a large lump could be seen. "Charmeleon, light the way with the flame on your tail."

Charmeleon nodded and set off down the narrow trail of the cave. Alex pulled out Dexter and began programming information into it as he walked. Soon, they came to the huge cavern where they'd first encountered Articuno. Charmeleon shivered as it recalled the past events and paused.

Alex looked around, Articuno had first appeared...over there, by those two large boulders. He pointed in the direction to go, "That way Charmeleon."

Charmeleon set off again and they found a large opening, another exit to the cavern. As Charmeleon and Alex walked inside, they noticed a faint glow and some chatting. As Charmeleon wordlessly shielded his tail, Alex perked his ears up and edged forward.

"Are you sure the Boss knows what he's talking about?" said one voice. It was a hauntingly familiar female voice.

"Of course he does," rasped another.

"Quiet," admonished a voice Alex couldn't identify. "That beast could wake up any second!"

Alex quietly recalled Charmeleon into his pokéball and peeked around the corner. He stifled a gasp as he recognized three black clad Team Rocket members and one Rocket dressed in white. Two of the ones in black uniforms were members Alex couldn't identify but one of the ones in black and the one in white he remembered easily. They were the senior Rocket Cassidy and the upstart Jesse.

Jesse moaned as she rubbed her eyes, "Why do we have to be out this early?" she wailed. "I didn't get my beauty sleep!"

"Like you stand a chance of improving," retorted Cassidy.

Jesse huffed, "You're just jealous."

"Believe what you want," Cassidy snapped.

The unidentified Rocket that had spoken before shushed them again, "Quiet!"

Jesse huffed again. "I can't believe you stole our motto," she said as she sat down on a rock.

Cassidy glared at Jesse, "You stole ours. But believe what you want, its all the same to..." She stopped as Jesse shifted position on the boulder and a multitude of rocks clattered noisily to the ground.

All the Rockets glanced around nervously as the sleeping Articuno on a rock shelf above them stirred and blinked its eyes open. It looked down to glare at the Rockets and let out a tremendous screech, "CUNO!"

Alex backpack shifted as Shrew bolted upright and found himself in the backpack. Shrew unzipped the top and peeked his head out to silently watch the unfolding events.

All the Rockets screamed, but they quickly whipped out bazookas and targeted the bird.

"On three!" yelled Cassidy. She paused a bit, "Three!"

The Rockets fired their weapons and four huge nets shot into the air and trapped the Articuno against its perch. Two of the nets slammed straight into the bird, knocking it against the cavern wall while the second pair fell down and draped themselves over the pokémon.

Articuno launched an Ice Beam at the nets in order to freeze and Peck them away but the nets began to crackle and zapped the ice-bird slightly. Articuno screeched furiously and iced the nets harder, but they responded with a greater dose of the electrical feedback.

Cassidy laughed at the trapped bird. "Don't bother trying," she informed Articuno. "Those are temperature-activated electroshock nets, courtesy of Team Rocket."

"They're environmentally friendly too!" added one of the anonymous Rockets.

All the Rockets laughed as Articuno continued struggling to free itself, shocking itself to a point near unconsciousness in the process.

Jesse laughed, "The Boss will really like you," she cackled.

"Not if I can help it!" yelled Alex as he stepped out from the shadowy rocks.

All four Rockets stared at him, "Not you again!" yelled Cassidy and Jesse in chorus.

Cassidy produced a pair of pokéballs, "You're not going to meddle with our plans, you young upstart! Raticate, Grimer, GO!"

Jesse pulled out her pokéball and threw it, "Ekans, go!"

The other two Rockets pulled out pokéballs. "GO!" they shouted.

Alex used both hands to grab the five pokéballs on his belt and he launched them out with an outward sweep, "Scyther, Gyarados, Charmeleon, Pidgeotto, Dratini, go!" He put down his backpack and Shrew hopped out to enter the fray.

The eleven pokémon all lined up, Alex's multitude of types against Team Rocket's Raticate and their poison pokémon.

"Pidgeotto, Butterfree, Whirlwind! Gyarados, Dratini, Slam and Dragon Rage! Charmeleon, Fire Spin! Shrew, Dig!" Alex yelled.

All of Alex's pokémon attacked first and sent the two anonymous Rockets' weak little Zubat and Koffing flying. Charmeleon roasted Jesse's Ekans while Gyarados and Dratini smashed Grimer into a puddle of goo.

Jesse rubbed her face where Ekans had trampled her in its attempt to flee while Cassidy let out a growl. "Raticate," she ordered, "Tackle attack now!"

Raticate let out a howl and charged through the battle lines of Alex's pokémon. Pidgeotto and Butterfree were knocked out of the sky and Charmeleon was thrown aside.

Dratini and Gyarados both went after the rat at the same time and their long bodies became tangled up. Raticate continued its charge straight at Alex and the young trainer gulped in fear.

Suddenly, the ground beneath Raticate shook and the ball of fur tripped onto its face. As it jumped back onto its feet, the ground beneath the pokémon crackled and cracked, and Raticate was thrown into the air using Shrew'' fist to send it on its way.

Dratini and Gyarados managed to untangle themselves and they acted in concert to create a huge, dragon-made funnel. The raging tornado slammed into the four Rockets and their pokémon as a huge cave in somehow caused a hole to be opened to the sky.

Team Rocket suddenly emerged at horrific speeds from the twister and sailed through the hole into the predawn sky.

Alex cheerfully recalled all the pokémon except for Charmeleon and Shrew. All three of them hopped up to where Articuno had watched the battle and began Slashing at the ropes with two sets of claws and a Swiss-army knife. The bonds keeping the legendary bird under wraps broke free and slid off as the great pokémon reared towards the ceiling and stretched its wings.

Articuno turned a frosty eye towards Alex, "Cuno, arti cun, articuno. [Thank you, trainer, for freeing me.]"

Shrew translated for Alex and he nodded his head, "My pleasure, Articuno. I always enjoy stopping Team Rocket from hurting others."

Articuno tilted its head at Alex, "Arti aticune. Cuno cun cuno, articuno cun cuno. [Thank you again. Out of gratitude I would repay you in some way, but I have other obligations.]"

Alex's face filled with excitement at the mention of Articuno becoming a travelling companion, but then it fell as the bird continued. "Other obligations?" he asked. "What might those be?"

Articuno settled itself into its perch, and lifted a huge wing. Underneath was a small nest with three not-so small pale blue eggs.

"Wow," Alex said, his eyes sparkling. His gaze wavered between the beautiful eggs and the eyes of the great bird, "If isn't too much trouble, maybe I could take care of one of those eggs for you?"

Articuno softly chuckled and stared at Alex, "Cun. [Hahah...No.]"

Shrew and Charmeleon began to chuckle as Alex face-faulted.

**o O o O o**

Alex continued on after paying his respects to the Ice God pokémon. He finally found a passage that seemed to lead into an exit and he entered its coordinates into Dexter, then went through. Alex stopped in surprise as he exited the tunnels into a warm, tropical beach scene. Several wind-surfers could be seen in the distance and there was a small cove with a huge rock tower in the middle of the surf about a few kilometers away.

Alex quickly used Dexter to backtrack his way to the campsite where the shipwrecked people were. As he reached it, several of the sailors had woken up and were milling about. He waved his arms to get their attention. "I found it!" he yelled.

The ranking officer looked at him, "Found what?"

"The exit!" Alex said. Seeing their confused faces, he added, "The exit to the caverns, there's a resort on the other side of this mountain!"

**o O o O o**

"I can't believe we wound up on the Seafoam Islands without knowing it," the Captain muttered.

The search teams had located each other and Alex eagerly told the rest of the people about the exit to the cave system. The Captain of the ship had taken one good look around and instantly identified the island they'd washed up on.

"Well the storm ruined our guidance systems," said the First Officer. "And Seafoam Island's backside isn't very well known. It's no surprise we were mistaken, I guess."

"Well I don't know about you people," Alex said as he shifted his backpack, but I'm heading on to Cinnabar Island for my Volcano Badge.

The rest of the shippies wished him good luck on his pokémon journey and Alex set off to look for Misty, who'd run off in delight at the site of so many beaches.

**o O o O o**

Alex ended up staying at the Seafoam Island resort for nearly three days, as Misty wanted to learn how to windsurf and get a tan. He finally got her to leave when he told her she could wind surf all the way to Cinnabar, as he began to float off with Gyarados.

Misty proved a very good swimmer, Alex thought. It wasn't often you saw a person manage a respectable speed in the water while keeping a duffel bag above the waves and completely dry.

Alex walked down the length of Gyarados to a point where he had some packs.

He opened one of them up and pulled out a self-inflatable raft he'd bought from one of the many shops at Seafoam. The raft was pretty large and Alex transferred the entire luggage to the small "cargo" section after pulling Misty aboard. Misty sent out her water pokémon and tied them to the small raft and with Gyarados's help, they all made good time to Cinnabar.

Soon, the giant volcano topping the island was visible above the horizon. Before the sun had fallen, Alex and Misty recalled their tired pokémon and paddled the rest of the way to the shore. Misty immediately wanted to head for a nice hotel but Alex vetoed her in favor of bedding down in the Pokécenter.

Alex and Misty were shown into their rooms and found the trainer bunks almost completely filled. They finally chose two that were far from the door and in a pretty fair condition. Alex dropped his backpack and left for the bathroom for his daily hygiene. As soon as he'd left, Shrew shuffled through his backpack and brought out all the pokédolls and began his usual once-sided play-fights.

When Alex returned, Nurse Joy came into the room. She waited until he'd found his bunk before calling, "Lights out!" and switching off the lights. Alex lay in his bunk with his hands behind his head and he pondered a nagging feeling he was experiencing.

He wasn't psychic, he was sure of that. It just seemed that he was about to collide head on with something from the past.

**o O o O o**

He was standing at the top of a very large volcano. He looked down into the crater and saw a huge, boiling, bubbling lava pit that would surely fry anything that fell into it. The thick, rocky columns that thrust upwards created small platforms one could stand on, and he was standing on one now.

He heard a voice, "C'mon! Let's find the thing! Magmar live in places like these but we'll never bring one out unless we can lure it!"

He turned around and saw a balding man with thick tufts of hair sprouting on either side of his receding hairline. His rasping voice and stern features were easily recognizable as the man's friend. "Just a minute," the man's comparatively soft voice called. "The Magmar will come of its own volition."

As if on cue, the lava below began to boil and swirl. Suddenly the lava shot outwards as something flew from it and the object landed on one of the spires.

"Mag...mar," it said.

The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, red folder. He clicked it open and aimed the small, black hemisphere on one end towards the pokémon. "Let's see if this new gizmo Professor Oak and his friends made really works," he said.

The pokédex beeped and displayed an image of Magmar and a blue light began to flash.

—_Magmar, the spitfire pokémon. Magmar's body is theorized to be superheated; in essence, it is an inferno in itself and able to withstand intense heat. Magmar has powerful fire attacks and is not a pokémon to be trifled with by any novice trainer—_

"Hurry up, Allen!" the bald man yelled. "The gym opens up in an hour and we have to be back there by then to accept challenges."

Allen focused his eyes on the pokémon before him and pulled out a pokéball. "Then let us waste no more time. Blastoise, GO!"

The shellfish pokémon emerged from its pokéball and immediately deployed its massive hydrocannons. "Blastoise, stoise blast."

Allen swept his arm out in a hauntingly familiar gesture, "Blastoise, Hydro Pump attack!"

"Stoise!" the giant turtle yelled as it lowered the cannons. It fired two powerful streams of water at the spitfire pokémon but Magmar jumped out of the way.

Magmar landed on the same platform that Blastoise was on and Headbutted it from behind. Blastoise tottered forward several paces and regained its balance. It turned around just as Magmar threw a fire-laden fist into its stomach and Blastoise reeled back onto its shell.

Allen kept his cool, "Blastoise, Skull Bash."

Blastoise picked itself up and rammed the fire pokémon in the head and Magmar teetered back before jumping to another column.

Magmar's eyes narrowed a small grin appeared in its duck-like mouth. "Mag...MAR!" it yelled as it shot out a huge jet of flame. The flame coalesced beyond its mouth into a five-pointed sigil and zoomed straight at Blastoise.

Allen cocked his fist at Blastoise, "Withdraw, now!"

Blastoise immediately withdrew its arms, legs, head, and cannons into its armored body and faced the armored shell towards the weird fire. It was no use, the strange attack literally *pushed* Blastoise off of its perch and the water pokémon fell helplessly towards the burning lava below.

Allen watched in horror as Blastoise plunged beneath the fiery depths. "Blastoise, NO!"

Briefly, a low moan bubbled up from the lava pit and a thick arm, skin boiling off the muscles and bone slowly reached up towards the trainer. Slowly, it sank back into the lava pit and nothing more emerged from the boiling pit.

Allen looked towards the Magmar with a tear-stained face. "Bastard," he whispered. "Blastoise was my first pokémon and you killed it!" He drew a pokéball from his belt and hurled it with all of his might at the demonic creature. "You're mine!"

Magmar blasted out another five-pointed fire stream, which incinerated the pokéball and continued on towards Allen. Allen managed a single glimpse at the other person on the ridge, who looked on in horror.

"ALLEN!"

The Fire Blast knocked Allen off of the spire he was standing on. Already on fire and obviously unconscious, his friend could only stare as Allen soundlessly plunged towards the liquid fire and towards oblivion.

**o O o O o**

Alex jerked up in his bed, as he woke up with in cold sweat and a terrified scream, "NO!"

The noise woke up everybody in the center and Shrew squealed in alarm. The lights in the room clicked on and Nurse Joy barged in, "What was that dreadful shout?" she asked.

Everybody's head shifted to stare at Alex, who was breathing heavily and his hands were shaking. As Joy walked over to his end of the room he gripped the bed supports and tried to calm himself down.

Joy knelt down by the bedside, "Are you okay?" she queried.

Alex shakily nodded and tried to dismiss it with a shaky wave, "I'm f-f-fine. J-j- just a night m-mare," said.

Joy placed her hand on his forehead and brushed away the hair pasted there, "You're awfully cold. That must have been some nightmare," she announced. "You'll be fine." She glanced around the room, you children should all go back to sleep. It's three in the morning and I don't want trainers bringing in hurt pokémon because they were too tired to think straight. Blaine is a tough enough Gym Leader already," she said. She turned around and walked out of the room. "Lights out," she called as she switched off the lights.

Alex pulled the covers over himself and wondered what had gotten into him.

There were several mutters about "baby," and "wimp," before everything quieted down and he was able to fall into a deep sleep once more.

**o O o O o**

The next day, Alex went through his usual routine but he left early to find the Cinnabar Gym. As he walked around and through the crowds on the island, Misty caught up to him.

"What was last night all about, Alex?" she asked.

Alex arched an eyebrow at here, "What do you mean?" he replied.

Misty glared at him, "You know, that whole nightmare thing."

Alex changed directions and dropped onto a bench outside a creaky old building.

Misty dropped beside him and Shrew hopped onto his lap as he took a deep breath.

"When I was really young, my mother was long dead and my father had just disappeared. I never knew what had happened to him, and nobody would ever tell me.

"I dedicated my life to become a pokémon trainer like he was. My dad was one of the best. His Blastoise conquered all the pokémon he ever fought, but his career was smashed flat...here. On Cinnabar Island."

Beside him, Misty pressed her hand to her mouth and suppressed a small, astonished gasp.

Alex continued. "I was sent to the town of Pallet under the care of Professor Oak. He and my father had been friends, I gathered, and it was there that I learned the truth. Oak always kept detailed notes on everything he'd done during the day, and one day I stumbled upon his log files while...searching for stuff on his computer.

"The logs for that day happened to be the day Oak learned of my father's fate. My father had died here and his will indicated his only child was to be taken under the wing of Oak. Apparently, my father was helping a friend to catch a rare and powerful pokémon. Something went wrong, and my father died.

"Last night I had a dream. I dreamt that I was seeing my father and some man I can only assume was his friend. My father was trying to catch a Magmar at the volcano but the pokémon proved too strong. Magmar...killed my father's Blastoise and followed up by killing my father as well. And then I woke up."

"Alex," Misty said, staring off to a point behind him. "What did your father's friend look like in your dream?"

Alex stared at her and arched an eyebrow. "Ah, balding with little wisps of hair jutting out on either side of his head. He had stern features and looked pretty old at the time. Why?"

Misty pointed behind him and Alex spun around. Standing there was a balding old man with white tufts of hair jutting out from the sides of his head. He had serious expression on his face as he glared at them and looked older than he probably was. Alex recoiled off of the bench and sprawled on the ground. "It's you!" he exclaimed.

The old man nodded, "That's right Alex Gedum. I knew your father very well, and the way you described your dream scares me." He extended a hand, "I am Blaine, Gym Leader of the Cinnabar Island Gym." His eyes narrowed, "I assume you wish to challenge me for a match?"

Alex scrambled to his feet and cocked his hand, "You're correct, Blaine. Let the fight for the Volcano Badge begin."

**o O o O o**

Alex and Misty followed Blaine into the old, rickety building and took their sides on the field.

"Free for all battle!" Blaine declared. "Up to three pokémon if you want, no time limit."

"Fine with me!" Alex said as he threw out a pokéball, "Gyarados, Go!"

Blaine smirked, "A water pokémon, how predictable." He tossed out his own ball, "Ninetails, go!"

The two pokémon squared off as they processed their trainers' commands.

"Gyarados, Hydro Pump!" Alex yelled.

"Ninetails, Fire Spin!" Blaine countered.

A huge foam of water met a huge wave of fire and steam hissed between the two elementals and suddenly the water burst apart as the raging fire spiraled around it and headed straight for the water dragon.

Gyarados gave a cry of outrage as the fire coalesced into a tornado reaching up to his chin. He began to spin around in the opposite direction and the fire was snuffed out as a huge, blue tornado ripped towards the fox pokémon. As Ninetails was pitched into the whirling Dragon Rage, Gyarados halted and let itself fall to the ground on top of Ninetails.

Blaine gritted his teeth and recalled the unconscious Ninetails and pulled out his next pokémon, "Rhydon, GO!"

Alex swept his arm out, "Gyarados, Hydro Pump again!"

Gyarados launched a foam of water towards the rocky rhinoceros. It propelled it backward against the floor and Rhydon was quickly knocked out.

Alex smirked, "Looks like this is gonna be an easy win for me. Ready to give up, Blaine?"

Blaine grimly smiled, "Not a chance. I never went easy on your pa and I'm not about to lose to his upstart son!" He pulled out a pokéball and stared at it for a moment.

"Your father was my best friend and I lost him in a stupid pokémon battle. I hate doing this to you, Alex, but it's just Gym Business. Magmar, GO!"

A large, duck-like fire pokémon jumped into the air and landed on the field with a hiss. The ground beneath it began to smoke softly and Alex recoiled. "Mag...mar," it breathed out solemnly.

Alex took a step back as he realized the significance of this pokémon. "It's you," he whispered.

Magmar stared at Alex and realization crossed its face. It grew a grim smile and took a challenging pose towards the young trainer.

Misty leaned over to Alex, "It's who?" she asked.

Alex didn't bother to respond but merely narrowed his eyes and cocked his arm towards the pokémon. "Gyarados, Hydro Pump!"

"Gyaaar!" the towering dragon roared. He opened his mouth waves of water poured out towards Magmar. As if mirroring the past, Magmar leapt out of the way and to the side of Gyarados.

Blaine leaned forward, "Magmar, Skull-bash!"

"Mar!" the fiery creature yelled as it charged towards Gyarados. The bluish water snake turned his head to meet the attack and was suddenly hurled to the ground as Magmar leapt into the air and smashed into Gyarados's chin. Alex could hear Gyarados's jaw click shut and shuddered at the fall of the pokémon.

Blaine followed up with another order, "Fire Blast!"

Magmar took a deep breath and let out a huge flame, "Dah!"

Alex's mind flashed back to his dream and the strange five-pointed fire blast, "Gyarados, Hydro Pump!"

Gyarados righted itself and spewed a stream of water but it evaporated on impact with the big fire; the Fire Blast continued on and slammed into Gyarados, knocking him backwards and into the wall of the building. The fire evaporated and Gyarados slumped against the wall, the material squeaking in protest.

"Gyarados!" Alex cried. He gritted his teeth and recalled the downed pokémon, "Return, Gyarados!" He considered his next choice; without Gyarados, his only water type pokémon, his only other choice could be..."Charmeleon, GO!"

"Char...meeleon!" yelled the red lizard. He turned towards the red and yellow Magmar and voiced its challenge, "Char!"

Alex leveled his finger at the other pokémon, "Charmeleon, Flame-thrower!"

Blaine countered, "Flame-thrower, now!"

Both pokémon let loose a wave of fire that slammed into each other. Nothing really happened for a while when suddenly there was a powerful explosion which threw a lot of smoke into the air.

Alex waved the smoke away from his face and saw Charmeleon and Magmar exchanging blows to the head and torso. He glared as Magmar threw a Fire Punch into Charmeleon's gut and then delivered a Headbutt as Charmeleon bent over in pain. Alex winced at the spectacle and threw out his arm again, "Charmeleon, Fire Spin!"

"Cha!" the lizard yelled as it blew out a raging, flaming tornado. The fire encompassed Magmar but it seemed to feed off of the inferno. As the fire died down, Magmar ran forward and tackled Charmeleon, throwing him out of the arena and through the wall. The walls of the ancient building creaked some more and pieces began to fall from the ceiling.

Alex aimed the pokéball's recall beam out the hole and nodded to Shrew,

"Charmeleon, return! Go Shrew!"

Shrew trotted out onto the field and faced his powerful opponent. Blaine laughed, "Hah! My Magmar runs through two of your most powerful pokémon like that and you send out an unevolved one? You're pathetic! Your father would be spitting in his grave!"

Alex's eyes narrowed at the jibe. "My father would be really pissed off at you for treating his son like that. Shrew, Earthquake!"

Shrew pounded his paw into the earth and let it burrow down. Across the room, Blaine and Magmar wobbled as the ground began to quake and the walls of the building protested even more.

Blaine steadied himself and threw out his hand, "Magmar, Fire Blast it now!"

"Mar!" yelled the pokémon. The huge five-figure flame launched itself out with astonishing speed towards the tiny pokémon.

Alex dived out of the way of the blazing fire and called out to Shrew, "Shrew, DIG!"

Just before the flame reached Shrew, the ground pokémon leapt forward and dived into the ground. The flames passed over the hole and Misty dived out of the way as well to avoid getting singed. Magmar looked down the path the blast had taken and became confused when Shrew didn't appear as either a charred ball or a flat pancake on the opposite wall. Suddenly the ground beneath Magmar shook and it looked down towards its feet. Shrew took off from the ground at a blindingly fast pace and smacked Magmar upside the chin, knocking it flat onto its back.

Shrew continued into the air and somersaulted briefly and headed back towards the ground.

"Shrew!" Alex shouted, "Fissure strike!" Shrew dived towards the earth and extended his claws. He spiraled into the ground just beyond Magmar's legs and burrowed deep. Abruptly, the ground began to rumble and split, and suddenly there was a huge rift extending from the burrow holes.

Magmar managed to get to its feet and jump to the side as the cracking floor split between his legs. The building began to shake as the ancient foundation cracked and crumbled to pieces, then the walls began to fall. Alex, Blaine, and Misty dove from the falling roof and several pieces smacked into the back of Magmar's head, toppling it over and knocking it unconscious. A falling beam caught Misty across a leg and she became pinned down.

"Misty!" Alex yelled as he tried lifting the beam off.

Blaine quickly pulled out his pokéball and recalled Magmar before the building completely gave way. Just as he did so, the huge fissure split down the middle of the building and it caved in on itself, leaving a few wooden beams sticking straight out of the ground.

"Blaine," cried Alex. "Help me get this piece of wood off of Misty!"

Blaine quickly ran over and began to lift the heavy object off one of Misty's legs.

"It's no use," Blaine said. "It's just too heavy."

Suddenly the ground began to quake slightly again and Shrew popped out of a hole, neatly slicing the beam in half with his claws. Half of the beam fell onto the ground and Blaine and Alex were able to lift the remaining half off of the hysterical girl's leg.

As soon as the beam was free, Misty snatched her leg and began wailing from the pain. Several ambulances and Nurse Jenny broke through the crowd of onlookers who'd watched the collapse of the building and the aftermath. Several doctors and Chansey lifted Misty onto a stretcher and carried her to the ambulances, where they took off for the hospital.

As the crowd bean to disappear, Alex looked over and saw Blaine staring at the ruined gym. "Sorry," he said.

Blaine turned his head to look at Alex over his shoulder. "For what?" he asked.

"I totaled your gym."

"Oh, that." Blaine gave a light chuckle. "That old place just didn't really suit me anymore. I was planning to relocate my gym anyhow."

Alex blinked, "Relocate? Why?"

Blaine crossed his arms. "Because of the volcano here at Cinnabar Island, hot springs are popping up everywhere. This place is becoming a tourist trap and very few trainers are coming nowadays. I was thinking of hiding the gym in a secluded spot where only dedicated trainers would really find it."

Alex nodded, "Trainers are only coming here for a break and you don't want to give up a Volcano Badge to the stupid, right?"

Blaine pulled a small bag out of his pockets. "Yep. Besides, Magmar doesn't like the building very much. I was thinking of holding the gym up in the volcano itself," he said as he pulled out a pair of sunglasses and a yellow wig. He put on both and turned to face Alex, "From now on, trainers will have to work without pokémon as much as with them in order to win a badge from me.

"Speaking of which," his voice altered, becoming smoother and deeper. He handed Alex a small flame shaped badge, "You have beaten me...somewhat fair and square. I award you with the last easily won Volcano Badge."

Alex stared at him, "_Easily_ won? That Magmar of yours made mincemeat out of my Gyarados and Charmeleon!"

Blaine grinned, "I will train it harder to prevent such accidents such as your easy win from occurring again. In the meantime, I think I might just train that Charmeleon of yours the Fire Blast attack. I owe that much for my best friend's son..."

**o O o O o**

While Misty was stuck in the hospital waiting for her fractured leg to recover, Alex patrolled Cinnabar to check out some of the sites and Cinnabar's famed Laboratory.

Blaine showed him the entrance to the *real* lab, since there was a tourist version that only held a large bazaar of shops within it. Unfortunately Shrew seemed to count as a pet to the guards and Alex wasn't really allowed to bring him inside.

Blaine walked forward through the front door and passed Alex rummaging around in his backpack, probably for some souvenir. "Tourism," the gym leader muttered as he passed the guard desk. Alex was on his heels and gasped as they turned a corner. Computers, tubes, pokémon, everything Alex had imagined would be in a sort of lab was present in the massive room. There were also some unknown contraptions that Alex had no clue to their purposes. Blaine walked down a short path through the mess that led to another door and Alex glumly followed, disappointed that he couldn't see all the scientific progress.

Blaine ushered him inside and past another security check station, "Come, come, that was only the room we show the tourists smart enough to find this place. They don't really have any purpose." They entered a small room with several cubicles, "This is where the real work is being made. There are many rooms such as this where we analyze data brought in from the field. Very little research is done right here, actually," Blaine said.

Alex looked around and saw ordinary men and women hunched over computers with random charts and graphs displayed. "This is still interesting," he said. He pulled off his backpack and unzipped it, revealing a slightly irritated Sandshrew. "Sorry, bud."

Blaine looked down at the pokémon and jumped back slightly. He quickly recovered and began to chuckle slightly, "Oh you're a smart one. How'd you get your 'pet' past the guards?

Alex shrugged and motioned for Blaine to lead on and Blaine grudgingly obliged.

Because Blaine happened to be a well-respected member of the staff here, he was allowed to bring Alex to some of the more "fun" places at the lab. He motioned him over towards a group of thick-glassed scientists. "These scientists have been working on a cloning machine for years, however I don't know if they've succeeded." He turned towards what appeared to be their leader, "Well?"

The man straightened up and adjusted his glasses, "Well, uh, Mr. Blaine, sir. We almost have the deoxyribonucleic acid extractor finished. Once we're done with that we can begin the gene sequencing and break up the atomic structures of the base material to provide a medium for the clone."

Alex and Shrew both cocked their heads to the side and little question marks appeared around them. "Uh..."

Blaine looked at the quizzical looks of the two and turned back to the scientist. "In English, for our guests."

The scientist stammered a bit and placed his arm behind his head, "Uh, yes sir." He turned to Alex, "Uh, when we get the machine that 'scans' the pokémon we should be able to calibrate, to uh - fix, the apparatus that recreates what the scanner sees. So far we haven't been able to perfect it." He looked at Blaine, "Would Satellite Lab Twelve be of any use?"

The Gym leader blanched at the mention of the lab but he quickly recovered himself and silently admonished the technician. Then he turned back towards Alex and walked past him, "Come now, let's see what else is in store for us. Maybe we can see what that weird researcher Seymour has found out"

Alex obediently followed the old man out but Shrew paused to look back at the technicians as the leader desperately tried to hold himself together after that slip of the tongue. Shrew cocked his head to the side quizzically and then resumed following his friend.

**o O o O o**

It turned out there really wasn't anything more interesting left in the lab so Blaine waved cheerfully as Alex departed the lab and urged him to explore some more. Alex obliged him by wandering around the shops and findings some nice pokédolls, but at outrageous prices. Shrew insisted, though, and Alex forked over a couple hundred yen for a group of Dratini, Pidgeotto, and Growlithe dolls.

He wandered around towards the opposite end of Cinnabar, gambling that he'd find something similar to the caves at Seafoam. Unfortunately, and to his dismay, there was nothing there but some rickety old building that looked older than the one where

Blaine used to hold his gym. Still, a discovery was a discovery and Alex was willing to bet a few pokémon were hiding inside.

Inside, the interior of the building looked worse than the outside. Places were burnt all over and the entire place had a foul smell. Alex readied his pokémon in case an opponent came along. He didn't have to wait long.

"Prepare for trouble!"

"And make it double!"

Alex looked around and groaned to himself. There were only two groups of Rockets that he knew to use the motto, and the voices narrowed it down to one.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all peoples within our nation!"

Alex snapped his fingers, "It's the Newbie Squad!"

Jesse and James face-faulted from the high perch they'd assumed and fell down to the floor in a heap. They quickly got up and glared at the young trainer. "Never interrupt the Team Rocket motto!" Jesse snapped. She continued on, "To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above," James said.

"Jesse!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth! Dat's right!"

Alex looked up to see a Meowth diving in towards him. He quickly took a step back and the cat pokémon succeeded in driving itself into the ground. Meowth leapt to its feet and joined its partners.

James chuckled, "As you can see, the Boss gave us some insurance against losing this time! Now we have a secret weapon!"

The Meowth chuckled too and opened its mouth to add something. Alex was surprised at the sound that burst forth, "Yeah, the Big Man in Charge was impressed by my record as a thief back in the old days and had me join this loser squad to beef them up a little."

Alex couldn't believe his ears, "Wow! A talking Meowth! I have to catch you!"

The Rockets all shook their heads. "Not so fast," Jesse said. "Team Rocket has staked a claim on this pretty pokémon place and now we are protecting our territory!"

She threw out a pokéball, "Ekans, go!"

James threw out one of his own, "Koffing, now!"

Suddenly Meowth was thrown forward as Jesse picked him up by the scruff of his neck and his tail and threw *him* forward, "Meowth," she yelled, "GO!"

Alex sent out Shrew, Charmeleon, and Dratini all at once, "Pokémon, GO!"

Jesse pointed out towards the trio of opposing pokémon, "Ekans, Poison Sting attack. Meowth use you Fury Swipes!"

Ekans and Meowth both charged; Ekans towards the battle line, and Meowth back towards Jesse whereupon he Fury Swiped her face, "Dat's for throwing me out there!" he yelled.

Shrew and Charmeleon moved forward to attack the snake when suddenly Dratini shot out ahead and wrapped itself around the purple pokémon. Ekans wrapped itself around Dratini and they began squeezing each other hard.

"Koffing, Sludge attack now!" James ordered.

Koffing's grinning face closed up for a moment and then spewed forth a mass of oily sludge. Just then, Charmeleon moved in with a Flame-thrower and ignited the toxic stream, causing the fire to run back, incinerating the sludge as it went, and trickled into Koffing's open mouth.

Alex shielded his eyes as Koffing exploded and appeared on top of James's head, who also looked like he was out of it. He quickly redirected his pokémon's attacks and Charmeleon trotted over to help Dratini as Shrew and Meowth squared it off.

Meowth made the first move as he rushed in to Scratch the ground pokémon. Shrew curled up and rolled to the side, then Slashed at the cat's receding back. Meowth turned around and gave a piercing shriek, which caused Shrew to cover his ears in pain. Meowth rushed in and applied several claw marks to Shrew's back. Shrew returned the favor by embedding several marks into Meowth's face.

As Meowth ran over to grapple Shrew, the yellow sandshrew dived into the ground and popped back up a few feet from behind Meowth. He leapt into the air and crashed into the back of the confused Meowth's head. The scratch-cat pokémon stumbled forward slightly and turned to face his opponent again.

Suddenly a lightning bolt flared through the air and encased Meowth in an electrical cage, which restricted his movements and shocked him all the same. As Meowth fought his paralysis, a huge gout of fire tore through the air and turned the cat into a medium-rare pokémon.

Alex spun around and saw Dratini and Charmeleon standing on top of a fainted Ekans and puffing out their chests in pride. Suddenly they both began to glow with an inner light, and they began to grow larger.

Charmeleon's back extended and large wings began to take shape, his single rear-facing horn split into two while his claws sharpened and his torso elongated. The glow faded and the fiery pokémon was back to a nice, orange color and a new identity,

"Charrrrizarrrd!" he yelled.

Dratini's body elongated and the tail appeared to round off, a crystal-looking object appeared under his chin and the small, undeveloped horn on his head grew and extended to a full fledged spike. The ear "wings" elongated as well and became more graceful. The glow faded and a much larger, more graceful pokémon appeared,

"Dragonair."

Beneath them Ekans yelled out in protest as the two heavier pokémon pressed their weight upon it and quickly scooted out from under them. As it was heading off, a large burst from Charizard flamed it down and it fainted again.

Jesse and James recalled their pokémon and shoved Meowth under their arms. "We wont forget this!" James shouted as they ran past Alex and out the front door.

Alex shrugged and went on to find some more interesting things.

**o O o O o**

Alex was about to give up his search for adventure in the Pokémon House as a lost cause when Shrew suddenly squinted at something on the floor.

The little pokémon tugged on his pant leg, "Shrew, shrew!" Shrew pointed to a small, diary-sized object. He ran ahead and retrieved it for Alex as the trainer motioned that he couldn't see anything.

Alex took the dirty little booklet and blew onto it, sending a large cloud of dust into the air. He took out a small flashlight and read the entries in the dim light.

_July 5th Guyana, South America:_

_A new pokémon was discovered deep in the jungle. Fossil evidence left behind has confirmed the existence of the new pokémon. We have dubbed the fossilized piece as to belonging to a new pokémon named, "Mew." Stone artifacts in the area have displayed a hieroglyphic representation of what we believe to be Mew. It was located in a room near the hieroglyphs of the Articuno, the Zapdos, and the Moltres Legendary birds, along with two other pokémon we have not been able to identify._

Alex flipped open Dexter and issued a verbal command, "Dexter, Pokédex Entry: Mew."

Dexter hummed for a moment, then its blue "talk light" started flashing.

—_No available data—_

Alex frowned for a moment and looked at the photograph in the diary. The photo showed a large stone block with a cat-like pokémon. The pokémon had a starfish-like head, two arms, and two feet, of which one was pointed up in the hieroglyph. There was a long tail that seemed to wrap itself around the pokémon. He pointed Dexter's IR eye before it, "Analyze and store into memory. Begin program sequence."

—_Ready—_

Alex looked at the diary again and began reading through the next pages.

"Pokédex entry: Mew. Subtitled, 'New Species.' Height: 1 foot, 4 inches; weight: 9.0 pounds. Found as a fossilized piece of material in Guyana, South America. Believed to be extinct but may be just extremely rare." He flipped through several more pages.

"Fossilized pieces taken to Cinnabar Island for further analysis. Experts in cloning were consulted about bringing the creature back to life. Subject taken to," Alex paused, "Cinnabar Special Cloning Facility. Also known as Satellite Lab Twelve."

He glanced at the notes and Shrew perked his ears up at the mention of the forbidden laboratory. Cautiously, he looked around. "Dexter, save the very last entry into encrypted database and delete public entry. Continue."

He took a deep breath and remembered the implication of expertise the scientist back at the lab had said, "A few scientists and trainers believe the pokémon to be existing. Some say it is merely a mirage, a sun dream." He glanced at the notes he'd picked up, "Believed to be of the Psychic type. End Pokédex entry."

He glanced at Shrew, who was shaking his head at the folly of cloning an extinct pokémon. "Shrew?"

Shrew just shrugged and motioned towards the pad again.

Alex flipped through several pages of boring notes until he found an interesting entry.

_October 27 Satellite Lab 12, Cinnabar Island:_

_The Mew fossil piece has been processed through the computer. Some of the scientists here are very excited at the data they've processed and they wish to begin the cloning process immediately. One of the scientists here, however, feels that we should "upgrade" Mew. He claims that much of its psychic potential is wasted and we should "enhance" the creature for a more powerful physical entity. He proposes calling the project, "Project: Mew-2," or Mewtwo. I've analyzed his proposed modifications and I cannot see how much good this project can do. I've—_

Alex frowned at the sudden stop of the entry and flipped the page over. He saw several millimeters of stacked paper from the book had been torn out. "This can't be good," he whispered.

**o O o O o**

"So where's the next gym?" Alex said into the vid-phone.

Professor Oak looked at him from the other side of the link, "Uh, Viridian City, according to my lists."

Alex almost face-faulted but he recovered himself quickly. "Professor you never told me about a gym in Viridian!"

Oak smiled grimly, "That's because the gym leader at Viridian is one of the toughest I've ever seen. I wanted you to get better before you had to face him. After that, you could try fighting Sabrina again."

Alex waved his arms in protest, "Uh, uh. No way. I'm not going back to that freakish place. Send Ash when he gets his license. He'd probably cut it somehow."

"Cut what!" an enthusiastic voice squealed into the headset. Ash shoved Oak out of the way and faced the camera. "Alex! Hey! I heard you almost got all eight badges! Guess what? I'm turning ten in almost two weeks!"

Alex nodded towards the screen, "That's nice Ash."

"Yeah!" said another, more confident voice. Gary shoved Ash out of the chair and sat down, "Me too. I'm gonna beat Ashy-boy here when I get my pokémon, and what's more I'll whip yours too!"

"Gary, Gary, he's the best! Gary, Gary, beat the rest! Yay Gary!" yelled a chorus of voices in the background.

Alex grinned slightly, "I thought you couldn't stand girls, Gary. Mr. 'Cootie-Man?'"

Gary blanched and began jerking his thumb towards Ash's upchucking form, "I've matured over the years you've been gone, unlike Ashy-boy here."

Suddenly Gary and Ash went flying out the door thanks to Oak's foot and a bit of applied pressure. Oak locked the door and returned to the vid-phone. He coughed into his hand and his expression turned deadly serious. "Alex, how was your stay there in Cinnabar?"

The tone in Oak's voice, and the set expression was all Alex needed to know about the topic. His eyes slightly narrowed, "Educating. The stay here was... educating."

Oak looked at him expectantly and Alex let out a small sigh. "I learned the details of my father's...death. It was troubling."

Oak nodded, "So Blaine explained it to you?"

Alex was about to tell Oak about his dream but then he decided against it. "Yes, he told me."

"Take care, Alex," Oak said. The transmission cut and Alex began browsing for passage back to the mainland.

**o O o O o**

Misty's leg was finally recovered and she was able to walk around. She and Alex quickly made their way to the boats docked at the Cinnabar Port and soon they were on their way back to Pallet Town.

Thankfully, there was no storms and the boat was on a straight trip with no stopovers. Still, there were a few pokémon in the water around the boat and Alex managed to capture a Tentacool. Misty tried, but failed as usual.

They walked around Pallet, finding the quickest way back to Viridian. Alex pointed out some of the sights in his hometown but Misty was staring at all the lakes and rivers. Soon they arrived in Viridian City, and Alex made a beeline for the Pokécenter to heal up his pokémon.

"Hi, Joy," he said as he pulled out his pokéballs.

Joy looked at him, "Oh hello, Alex. How's your pokémon journey going?" she asked.

"Fine, I'm on my way to the gym here in Viridian."

Joy nodded as she picked up the pokéball tray, "That's nice. Watch out for that gym leader," she said. "I hear he's awfully tough."

Alex signed up for his room and then he and Misty went to the trainer rooms to sleep.

The next day, Alex was in high spirits as he trotted over to the Viridian Gym. He had to trot since Misty still couldn't walk very strongly so he'd given her his bike in exchange for her Bike Voucher that she'd won back at Hop Town.

When they reached the gym, Alex walked inside but the two guards standing on either side of the doorway blocked Misty.

"But, why can't I come inside?" Misty wailed.

"One trainer at a time," said one of the guards.

"But-"

"Those are the rules!"

Misty turned away dejectedly and waited for Alex to come out. After almost half an hour of waiting, the longest Misty had ever seen in a gym battle, Alex proudly walked out of the Viridian Gym, bearing an Earth Badge.

"Look, Misty!" Alex said triumphantly. "I beat the gym leader of Viridian City!"

**o O o O o**

Alex and Misty went back to the Pokécenter in Viridian and Alex left all of his pokéballs with Joy as he went to a nearby couch to give Full Restore to Shrew.

"Looks like it was a tough battle," Misty commented. "Most of your pokémon fainted and even Shrew is at critical care."

"Just a powerful poison sting," Alex commented.

"Oh?" asked Misty. "Why don't you tell me what happened. Those guards wouldn't let me inside.

Alex shifted the sleepy Shrew into a more comfortable position on his lap and leaned back on the bench. "Well, it sort of went like this..."

* * *

**_o O o O o FlashBack o O o O o_**

The door slammed shut behind Alex and he spun around just as the lights went out. "What the?"

All of a sudden, the lights flicked on across the room and Alex could barely make out the dim outline of the gym floor. Beside him, Shrew began to slightly quiver with anxiety.

"Greetings, young trainer. So you want to be a pokémon master?" a stentorian voice echoed throughout the room.

Alex squinted out towards the spotlight and saw the backlit form of a man sitting in a chair. A small Meowth was sitting next to him, purring contentedly. "Yes," he answered. "I'm Alex Gedum and I challenge the Viridian Gym leader to an official pokémon battle for the Earth Badge!"

"Gedum?" the voice said, sounding a bit astonished. The grim, superior tone returned, "Well then, it looks like we have a match."

The house lights lit up again, but they were brighter and fully illuminated the gym floor. The light behind the gym leader, for that was what Alex assumed him to be, remained lit to cast the man in a shadow. As a result, about the only thing Alex could make out was the sneer on his face.

"We shall use as many pokémon as we wish, one at a time, no time limit," the clipped, precise voice said.

Alex simply nodded as Shrew squinted up towards the balcony where the man was sitting.

The Gym Leader held out a pokéball and released his pokémon from there, "Golem."

"Gollllem!" yelled the giant boulder.

Alex swiped a pokéball from his belt and hurled it onto the floor, "Gyarados, go!"

"Gyaaaaaaaa!" the giant water pokémon roared.

"Golem, tackle," the gym trainer said.

"Gyarados, Hydro Pump!" Alex shouted.

"Golem!" The giant boulder withdrew its head and arms and literally bowled itself towards the dragon. Before the giant boulder could reach him, Gyarados released a huge wave of water that knocked Golem back the way it had come.

Alex snapped his fingers, "Piece of cake. Next?"

The Gym Leader's sneer grew, "I'm just warming up." He opened up another pokéball without bothering to recall the fainted Golem. "Kingler."

A giant crab appeared before Alex and Gyarados.

"C'mon, Gyarados! Slam!"

Gyarados reared up onto its tail and let itself fall onto the giant crab, but it side-stepped before the impact. As Gyarados recovered itself, the Kingler moved in and slammed a large pincer into his flank. Gyarados roared in pain.

The trainer smiled, "Kingler, Bubblebeam."

The Kingler's mouth began to foam and a stream of bubbles began to flow from its mouth. Suddenly the area around it began to glow and all of the bubbles coalesced into a large stream, which suddenly shot out towards the watery dragon with a screech.

The bubbles encompassed Gyarados and began to cling to him. The long pokémon attempted to slam into Kingler again but all it managed was a swan dive in slow motion. The bubbles had pinned down Gyarados.

The Leader sneered again, "Kingler, Guillotine attack."

Alex grew slightly nervous, "Guillotine? Didn't I learn about that in the French Revolution...oh crap!" He quickly pulled out Gyarados's pokéball just as Kingler brought its claws together with a loud snap. He pulled out his second pokéball, "Scyther, go!"

"Scyiyiyiyi!" yelled the green bug.

Alex pointed at the Kingler, "Scyther, Agility and Slash!"

Kingler released its stream of bubbles again but Scyther was suddenly on the other side of its line of site. It moved to correct its aim when Scyther was on the opposite side again, and closer. The crab recoiled as Scyther's well-aimed claw Slashed through the spikes over Kingler's head. Scyther reared back a foot and kicked Kingler off the gym floor.

Again, the trainer didn't recall the damaged pokémon, but merely sent out another. "Kangaskhan."

The large marsupial-like pokémon, infant included, squared off against the comparatively tiny flying bug. Scyther leapt into action and Slashed across Kangaskhan's forehead, but only succeeded in chipping off a piece of his blade.

"Kangaskhan, Dizzy Punch."

Kangaskhan leapt into the air and suddenly began to spin around and around. His fists flew out from his sides as the pokétornado flew towards Scyther. The mantis-like pokémon tried to avoid it but he got a hard clout on the side of his head from one of the punches and landed hard on the floor. Kangaskhan followed up with a huge Stomp to Scyther's midsection, causing the pokémon to squeal out in pain, and fall back unconscious.

"Scyther, return!" Alex yelled. This wasn't good, trading off losses was always a bad thing in a pokémon battle. "Dragonair, I choose you!"

The long and graceful pokémon emerged in a beam of light and reared up at the sight of an opponent, "Nair!"

Alex swept his arm to the side, "Dragonair, Dragon Rage!"

"Kangaskhan, Dizzy Punch."

Both pokémon began to swirl around until two tornadoes were on a path towards each other. Alex squeezed his eyes shut as the two pokémon inched closer, and closer. There was a resounding crash and Alex cracked an eye open to peek out. Both Kangaskhan and Dragonair had pretty much knocked each other out with their attacks and neither was fit to battle any more. Alex recalled Dragonair while Giovanni sent out a

Machamp. The first thing the fighting pokémon was ordered to do was to get Kangaskhan out of the way. Alex's choice was Pidgeotto against the four-armed fighter.

"Pidgeotto, Gust attack!" Alex yelled.

"Machamp, Karate Chop," said the Gym Leader.

Pidgeotto flapped his wings and let loose a furious gust of wind that arrowed in towards Machamp. The fighting pokémon merely charged forward and through the tornado and proceeded to hack Pidgeotto to pieces.

The bird pokémon was thrown backwards after a series of chops but he managed to recover his flight tempo.

"Pidgeotto, Razor Wind!"

Pidgeotto began to fly around within the gym floor's boundaries and picked up several sharp pebbles and a few stray twigs and collected them in the whirlwind it was building. As the sharp twister grew, Pidgeotto made a final flap of his wings and threw the Razor Wind twister into motion.

Machamp tried his charge-and-chop maneuver again but reeled back as the fast moving rocks in the wind-funnel sliced across its arms and head. Machamp dodged around the incoming winds and charged Pidgeotto to smack it out of the sky.

Pidgeotto shot past Machamp and homed in on the fighting pokémon's back, his beak whistling with the speed the bird was flying at. Pidgeotto's Quick Attack scored Machamp's side and the four-armed creature roared in pain.

"Machamp," the precise voice said, a trace of anxiety peeking out. "Focus Energy and Seismic Toss."

"Champ," the pokémon said, nodding. Pidgeotto came around for a Wing Attack but Machamp dodged to the side and reached out with its long arms. One of the arms snagged a wing and the other three quickly converged on it so not to lose its grip.

Machamp spun around in a circle and let centrifugal force pull the dazed Pidgeotto from its grasp. Pidgeotto went flying through the air and smacked into the far wall with a dull thud.

Alex recalled Pidgeotto and pulled out his last pokéball, "Charizard," he yelled as he threw it out, "He's weak Charizard, go get it!"

The six-foot tall fiery dragon launched a test-flame into the air and faced its tired opponent.

"Flame-thrower!" Alex shouted.

Charizard leaned his head towards the ceiling, then snapped it forward as he belched a huge wave of flame. The 'thrower completely engulfed the already daze Machamp. When the smoke cleared, Machamp's burned face surrounded two star-struck eyes before they rolled back into their sockets and Machamp collapsed onto the floor.

The trainer smirked slightly. "Impressive," he whispered. "Most impressive, but you haven't faced my two most powerful pokémon yet." He let another pokémon out from the balcony, "Rhydon."

A giant, rocky rhinoceros appeared before Charizard and roared a challenge.

Charizard answered with another roar and a stream of fire.

Rhydon took the fire on its flank and rubbed the slightly scorched side. More annoyed than in pain.

"Rhydon, Horn Drill."

"Charizard, Fire Blast!" Alex yelled.

Rhydon charged the Charizard, its single metallic horn spinning rapidly. The fire dragon met the attack head on with his wings spread. As Rhydon approached him, Charizard snapped his head forward and let out a huge, five-pointed Fire Blast. The semisolid flame slammed Rhydon backwards along the path of its attack and Charizard leapt forward as the giant rhino stumbled.

Rhydon sat up and shook its head. Just as it had cleared its eyes Charizard tackled it from the air. Rhydon was bowled over onto its back and back to its belly, just as Charizard Slashed his claws through its back. Rhydon roared in pain as Charizard cocked his head back. The large fire-lizard threw his head forward and launched another Fire Blast that completely blew Rhydon back against the gym trainer's balcony and out of the ring. The wall creaked slightly with the impact's force and the trainer glanced down towards the knocked out pokémon.

The trainer's voice turned deathly quiet. "You are a talented trainer in deed. You will now face my best pokémon and should you lose, I can assure you that you will never come this close to winning again. Nidoking, go," he said as he released his last pokémon.

Charizard, Flame-thrower!" yelled Alex.

Charizard belched a column of flame towards the purple pokémon opposing it but Nidoking dived to the side. It launched itself at Charizard and proceeded to head bang against the fire pokémon's torso. Problem was, Nidoking's head sported a rather large horn and the Fury Attack it launched at Charizard didn't help him any.

Charizard slammed his claws against Nidoking's skull and drove it back. Once at a fair enough distance, Charizard belched a Fire Blast towards the Nidoking. The poison pokémon sidestepped the flame and charged Charizard again.

"Nidoking, Thrash," said the gym leader.

Charizard also sidestepped the attack but was caught off guard as Nidoking swiped his tail across the back of his legs. Despite Charizard's own tail, he stumbled off balance and as Nidoking pounced on him, he fell onto his back. Charizard was helpless as Nidoking began to scratch, claw, slam, and kick Charizard as he lay prone on the floor.

"Charizard, return!" Alex called as he zapped the dazed pokémon back into his ball. He turned to his best friend with a pleading tone, "Shrew?"

Shrew looked at him like he couldn't believe Alex would doubt his loyalty, but he ran out onto the field, "Shrew!"

Alex swept his arm across the air, "Shrew, Fury Swipes!"

Nidoking charged the tiny little pokémon but Shrew met the attack with his claws a blur. Shrew struck his claws again and again, creating scratch welts on Nidoking's face, arms, torso, and head. Nidoking roared with anger and grabbed Shrew, throwing him back over its head and to the ground.

Shrew landed with a thud but he quickly raised himself off of the ground and assumed a battle pose again. As the purple poison pokémon began to Thrash around Shrew had to dive, jump, and dash to avoid all of Nidoking's random blows. A fist came whistling down over Shrew's head and he burrowed into the ground instinctively. As Nidoking plodded over to the burrow Shrew popped out and tackled it from behind.

Fully enraged, Nidoking lashed out with his claws and his horn, Shrew was pummeled several times before he jumped out of the way. He stumbled slightly as he landed, an obvious sign of his fatigue.

As the two pokémon squared off again, Shrew suddenly cried out in pain as it felt his arm begin to burn. He brought it forward and noticed a black, oily stain within the scratch marks there. Suddenly his back and face began to burn as well and Shrew began to tremble slightly.

Alex brought out Dexter and let it scan Shrew.

—_Poisoned, a state in which a pokémon is contaminated with a poisonous attack. Its health gradually weakens as the poison spreads throughout its body and if not treated, may seriously injure the pokémon—_

"Hang in there, Shrew!" Alex yelled. "No match is worth losing you, I'm pulling you out!"

Shrew turned towards Alex weakly and shook his head. As Alex blubbered about in confusion, Shrew took a fighting pose against Nidoking again, his glassy eyes set with determination.

"All right then!" Alex crowed. "Shrew, Slash!"

Shrew pounded towards Nidoking and flew right past it. Suddenly, three deep welts appeared on the side of Nidoking's face and the pokémon roared in pain.

"Earthquake!" Alex yelled.

Shrew pounded the ground and let his fist burst through the floor. A heavy tremor shook the stadium and Nidoking stumbled about, slightly off balance.

"Swift!"

Shrew shuddered for a moment with the pain of the poison, but then he began to glow. He placed his paws together slightly and the glow focused themselves there.

Suddenly his arms burst away from each other; a cloud of glowing stars shot out at terrific speeds and slammed into Nidoking no matter how much it tried to dodge.

Nidoking stumbled slightly, a bit dazed, and its next few attacks were pitiful attempts that landed on thin air.

Shrew wasn't much better off. His determination gave way to pain as the poison racked his body. He began to falter as Alex sent out his next attack.

"Shrew, Fissure!"

Shrew collapsed onto all four legs, and his tongue hung out with exhaustion. As he leapt into the air, he tried gaining enough velocity to strike a vein in the earth's crust, but he failed and succeeded in slamming himself into the ground.

Alex's face darkened. Shrew was in no shape to fight, not with the poison, and Alex had no antidotes with him. Suddenly his mind clicked, "Shrew, come here!"

Shrew attempted to move forward but he collapsed onto the ground. Nidoking too, was incapacitated but neither pokémon was able to fight very well. Alex blanched as he pulled out a Super Potion. If Shrew couldn't get to him then he would have to get to Shrew. But a trainer entering the ring was against the League Rules and Alex would forfeit the match.

Suddenly Alex had an idea. He cocked his left arm, the arm with the potion in it, back and hurled it forward towards Shrew, "Super Potion...um...go!"

The potion flew through the air and crashed onto the floor next to Shrew. The plastic cracked and the liquid contents splashed onto Shrew, revitalizing him.

Shrew blinked slightly and rose to his feet. He unsteadily began to walk around the gym floor until he was face to face with an equally bushed Nidoking.

"That's it, Shrew!" Alex exclaimed, "Finish it off with a Fury Swipes combo!"

Shrew and Nidoking began exchanging blows when Shrew's claws extended and hardened, becoming sharper. Shrew began to slash at Nidoking with both sets of claws and the tired opponent could barely stand it. As Shrew stopped the attack, Nidoking wavered unsteadily on its feet. Shrew stuck out a claw and tapped Nidoking on the chest, and the action unbalanced the pokémon enough that it fell over. Shrew had won.

"Congratulations," the trainer said. "You have beaten me fair and square, Alex Gedum. As Gym Leader of the Viridian Gym, I, Giovanni, award your efforts with the Earth Badge." The silhouetted form rose from the chair and began walking out the way he'd come, his Meowth trailing him.

"If you'll excuse me, I have business to attend to. Pick-Up crew, clean up the mess." He last command was directed towards a far corner of the room as he tossed out a gleaming Earth Badge and several people garbed in black began to cart off Giovanni's pokémon. The uniforms were marked with a giant, red "P" that somehow seemed familiar to Alex.

He was, however, to exhausted from the battle and his victory over the trainer. He picked up the Earth Badge and walked out after picking up a very exhausted and weak Shrew.

**_o O o O o End FlashBack o O o O o_**

* * *

Alex finished up relating his story to Misty and got up to take a loan of another Antidote from Nurse Joy. As he applied the potions to Shrew, he noticed a block of four hieroglyphs on the wall. "Those look like a Zapdos, a Moltres, an Articuno, and an Arcanine," he commented. "Wait, that Articuno looks a bit off."

Joy walked up to him. "Your pokémon are resting comfortably and should be recovered by tomorrow morning," she said. She glanced along his line of sight, "Admiring the wall panels? We have a large videophone concealed behind the Arcanine one. That one above it is an as-yet unidentified pokémon," she said. "So far, few trainers have seen it. Perhaps you'll be the next lucky one," she said as she walked off.

Misty leaned back on the couch, "So, Alex, where are we going now?" she asked.

Alex continued his ministrations of Shrew and his eyes grew distant with memory. "Home," he replied.

**o O o O o**

Giovanni entered his office and found several Team Rocket members standing there. "What do you want?" he asked, annoyed. "I'm very busy right now."

"We want revenge," said the female Rocket.

"Yeah," said the male. "That Gedum kid kept ruining our plans and now we know he's back in Viridian. We want some payback!"

Giovanni settled himself down into his chair. "He won't be ruining any more of our plans. One of our spy-bugs in the Pokécenter told us he was going back to his home-town. He's given up trying to get all eight badges. Without a Master's status, he won't be a real threat." The phone rang. "Excuse me," he said as he picked it up.

There was the sound of frantic jabbering at the other end and Giovanni's face froze. "What?" he exclaimed. He listened further, "When? Are you sure it was Satellite Lab Twelve? What about the experiment? Our hired man? Our plant? Lost contact! We _lost _the experiment! What do you mean it disappeared! I'm holding you directly responsible! No, I'm coming down there personally!"

He slammed the receiver back into the phone's slot. "Butch, Cassidy," he said, "I have some business to attend to. Alex Gedum is no concern of ours anymore, ignore him. We have a bigger problem. Come with me."

The three Rockets walked out to a helicopter waiting for them. Meowth jumped in at the last second as the 'chopper lifted off and headed off into the sky. A star twinkled where the 'chopper had faded from sight.

**o O o O o**

The next morning, Alex traveled down the path back to Pallet while Misty crisscrossed the path on his bike. Shrew was resting in the basket but occasionally he woke up as Misty performed wheelies over small rocks. They all stopped by the waterfall where Alex had caught Magikarp and Misty's eyes grew enchanted at the beautiful scenery.

"You don't wanna come?" Alex asked.

Misty shook her head, "I'm not ready to settle down yet. Besides, I need more water pokémon and this is the perfect place to catch them. I still have your fishing rod!" she exclaimed, pulling out the old stick.

Alex smiled and gave her a small hug. "Goodbye, Misty. If you ever drop by Pallet Town again, drop me a line. Friends stick together and we could always reminisce about the old times." He began to walk off with Shrew following him.

"Wait!" Misty called, "What about your bike?"

"Keep it," he called back as he waved farewell. Shrew waved as well before he scampered off after his friend.

"Goodbye, Alex," Misty whispered. "I'll treasure that bike as long as I have it." She found herself a nice rock to sit on, set her stuff down, and began to wait for a nibble on the fishing rod.

**o O o O o**

Alex and Shrew walked on until they could almost see the taller buildings in Pallet Town. Alex suggested a quick break before they continued on and Shrew scampered off into the fields to play as Alex settled down on a side of a tree facing away from the path.

Suddenly Alex heard a loud scream and he peeked out from his resting spot as he saw a young boy and a pokémon running from a huge flock of Spearow. Shrew was playing with some other Sandshrew and they ran off from the incoming flock. Shrew peeked his head out of the grass before he also scampered away as the boy ran past.

Alex blinked as he recognized the receding forms of Ash and Pikachu. "Well," he said to himself, "I guess Pikachu finally found himself a good trainer. Ash no less, good for you, buddy."

He and Shrew waited until the Spearow flock had totally disappeared and then they continued their way down the path until Pallet town could be seen between the two cliffs that bordered the main path's entrance.

Alex had learned something about his life. One, good friends were those that you could depend on, as Alex had with Shrew. Two, life is so much better when you are able to express yourself, as in pokémon battles and other art forms. And last, you could always depend on friends, as many of the people Alex had met had helped him on his pokémon journey. Though he'd not earned all eight badges and earned the right to be called a pokémon master, Alex made his way back to Pallet with high spirits and good memories.

He was coming back to the place that he called home.

**o O o O o**

* * *

**Epilogue:**

"Alex!" Professor Oak shouted jubilantly. "You're back!"

Alex smiled and gave Oak a big hug. "It's good to be back."

Oak also smiled and clapped Alex's shoulder, "What was that for? The hug?"

"Thanks. For being my strongest supporter and allowing me to rediscover what life is like without all the darkness."

Oak's face momentarily shadowed with the common memory of Allen Gedum's death but it brightened quickly enough. "I'm glad to here that the experience was very rewarding for you. I gave your Pikachu to Ash, I hope you don't mind."

Alex grinned, "Actually, I think they suit each other."

"Really?" Oak queried. "Because when I gave him to Ash he basically Thunder Shocked everything in sight."

"Don't worry, Professor," Alex said. He stared off into the distance. "I think that they're destined to be best friends with each other," he said as he smiled down at Shrew.

Suddenly a huge lightning bolt thundered down in the near distance as a black storm cloud materialized and disappeared just as quickly.

"Look's like a bad storm," Oak commented. "Welcome Home, Alex."


End file.
